Watching Attack on Titan—JUNIOR HIGH? !
by NguyetMieu
Summary: A meddlesome deity decided to show the Scout Regiment the truth about the world…only it wasn't what they think. "Basically, I wanted to piss off my fellow governor friend, and throwing your sanity out the window is the best way to do it!"
1. Starting School! Titan Junior High

**Disclaimer:** I don't own Attack on Titan

**THIS FANFIC HAS MANGA SPOILERS. PROCEED WITH CAUTIONS, YOU ANIME WATCHERS!**

**So, some details about how this was made!**

**I've always admired _Power to Strive_ and its sequel by ii-Pheonix-ii for the utter in-of-character, sheer dedication and correct update time. So one day after rereading said fic for the nth time, I started wondering what would happen if they started reacting to Attack on Titan Junior High, and since the author has made it clear that they are not going to do parodies, so I thought 'why the hell not?'**

**So this madness was born. On that note, I think this might be the first AoT: Junior High fic in the fandom lol.**

* * *

"Forward!" The thirteenth Commander of the Survey Corp, Erwin Smith, commanded. "We will now begin the 57th expedition beyond the walls! Onward!"

Before everyone has a chance to buckle up for the ride, a shot of lightning struck. People's startled cries resounded throughout the clearing, which was filled with smoke and dust from the ground, as the Garrison soldiers hastily closed the gate out of fear since the Colossal Titan also broke down the gate of Trost District in this manner.

"What is happening?!" Gelgar exclaimed.

"Ugh, Charlotte! Calm down—_Woah_!" Ness struggled to calm his horse down.

"Get a hold, everyone!" Mike hopped down from his horse and immediately turned to face Erwin, "What should we do Erwin—"

_Correction_: where Erwin was, because the sniffing man came face-to-face with a white horse.

Mike exclaimed, "Did that bolt of lightning turned you into a horse?!"

"Squad Leader Mike!" Moblit dropped down from his horse as he arrived and saluted. "Sir, Squad Leader Hange and the Special Operation Squad including the Titan Shifter has disappeared!"

Another frantic soldier piped up, "Most of the new recruits also disappeared, sir!"

"How can this happen?!" Mike demanded. "People don't just disappear like that! It's impossible!"

He wisely ignored the small mutter of 'well, there's also the Colossal Titan' from Nanaba.

"Um...Squad Leader Mike?" Nifa hesitantly spoke up. "There is a piece of paper stuck to your back."

Nanaba quickly snatched the folded paper sat snugly between Mike's belt and read it aloud, "It said, 'Hey there, I know you are confused and all but basically it's like this; I've kidnapped your Commander, the Titan Shifter and his loyal underlings, and a short guy with a bow (or was it an ascot?) to do this and that to them. Cancel the expedition or something and have fun dealing with the government! Yours truly, _Kuro_.'"

The following silence was deafening. It was only broken by Gelgar's confused murmur, "What kinda name is Kuro anyway?"

Then, all hell broke loose.

* * *

"_UGH!"_

Oluo bit his daily bite of tongue as Eren charged forward.

"GAH! I-I'm sorry, Oluo!"

Oluo angrily turned around, "What was that for, you stupid brat?!"

"Well, er, I heard the Commander's command to move forward so I charge—"

"The _horse_ should be charging, not you, dumbass—UGK!"

Ignoring Oluo biting his tongue yet again, Eld looked around to see a spacious living room with a small kitchen and bathroom in the corner. "Where are we?"

"_Eren_!"

Mikasa unintentionally pushes Oluo out of the way, causing him to fell to the floor ungracefully with a thud as she started inspecting her adoptive brother from head to toe. "Eren, are you alright?!"

"Yes I am! Stop mothering me!" He snapped. "Where are we? Where are the rest of the Survey Corp?"

"That's a question I would like the answer to, brat," Levi growled. "What the fuck is going on here?!"

"You guys are from the 104th trainee class, am I right?" Petra asked the remaining members of the group and they hesitantly nodded.

Erwin coughed, "May I have your attention please?" Out of everyone in the room, he appears to be the calmest.

Almost everyone immediately snapped into a perfect salute, except for Levi, because seriously, have you ever seen him saluting anyone on common occasions?

"I know that we are not where we are supposed to be, and the strange setting is rather intimidating to be around, but please get a grip of yourselves. Now, report."

The new recruits looked confused at his order before Levi stepped up, "The Special Operation Squad are present, including Eren Yeager."

"I'm Hange Zoe, pleased to make your acquaintance!" Hange winked at the new recruits.

Levi muttered, "We are not doing an introduction, Four-eyed Freak."

The Commander stared at the new recruits before Jean got the clue and stepped up, salute still in place, "We are trainee—er, I mean new Survey Corp soldiers from the 104th Training Corp, sir. I am Jean Kirstein."

"Mikasa Ackerman."

"I am Armin Arlert, sir."

"My name is Christa Lenz, sir!"

"Ymir." No one noticed the subtle twitches from Hange, Erwin, and Levi.

"Connie Springer, sir!"

"My name is Sasha Blouse, sir!"

"I see. I am Erwin Smith—"

Levi scoffed, "As if they didn't know already."

"—the 13th Commander of the Survey Corp." Erwin continued smoothly; it was likely that he was too used to the shorter man's behavior by now. "I fear that for some unknown reason, we have been transported here by unknown means. Let's start with inspecting this room—"

He was interrupted again, but this time by the black screen that suddenly lit up with texts. '_Hello. Just in case this didn't go as expected, do we have an Erwin, Levi and his squad, Hange, and seven newbies not including Eren Yeager?'_

"What the hell?" Levi deadpanned.

The noise began to pick up again as they talk about the origin of the strange object before Erwin's sharp voice cut them out. "_Quiet_! Now, who are you? And yes, all of the listed people are present."

'_Good. It'd be annoying if I have to go overtime for this mess. I go by a lot of names, but for now, you may call me Kuro.'_

"What kind of shit name is Kuro anyway?" Levi snarked.

'_The kind that isn't short.'_

They tried. They really, _really_ tried, but the tomato face and fluffed cheek from trying too hard to stop their laughter gave them away. Hange and Mikasa were the only one who dared to laugh out loud since the former was used to Levi's wrath and the latter just wanted to irritate Levi.

Erwin chuckled lightly before feeling his subordinate's glare fixed on him and cover it with a cough. "Ah, will you tell us why we are here? And what have you done to us?"

'_Well, I transported you guys here for a reason—do tell Sniffy that I'm sorry for dumping the whole mess of you guys being absent on him when you get back. Anyway, I'm here to give you puny humans a chance to fight back against the Titans, because clearly you can't handle it even though you have two Ackermans, the Attack, the Jaws and the freaking Founder on your side.'_

Ymir tensed as she sucked in a breath.

"What's wrong?" Christa asked, but she got no reply.

"_Two_ Ackermans?" Mikasa whispered, feeling slightly winded. She was obviously one, so who was the other?

'_The Attack? The Jaws? The Founder?'_ Armin's mind was whirling with questions. '_This 'Kuro' implies that both Ackermans are on our side, and seeing as Mikasa is a member of the Survey Corp...does that mean the other Ackerman is also a member? And why Ackermans specifically?'_

"A chance to fight back against the Titans?" Erwin interrupted the hushed whispers in the background, gaze hopeful. Levi narrowed his eyes; he'd never seen Erwin like this before. The man was usually the epitome of calm and collected.

'_First of, let me give you some background info. Basically, I am the governor of a world—not yours, my friend is—and I've been bored lately, so I dropped by to your world to visit my friend. But watching you struggling for like a century become boring as shit. So I decided that I might as well speed things up.'_

"Is this thing insane? There is no such thing as 'another world'!" Gunther whispered, and for once, Hange was subdued.

'_However, there is a law in the universe stating that we can't show the future to mortals like you guys, just like how us governors can't abuse our power to go to the past or future, so I was planning on showing your future to you guys, but that plan was scrapped because of this stupid rule.'_

"You were going to show us our future?!" Petra exclaimed in awe. Just who is this 'Kuro'?

'_I was, but now I have to make a compromise. I'm gonna show you guys the world that I govern, since there are no rules that I'm aware of against that.'_

"How will that help us defeat the Titans?" Eren spoke up. "Another world would be different from this one, right?"

'_Look. If we are going into specifics, we will have to sit here for hours. Just know that the two worlds are similar, but my world is more modern than yours, and the most important of all? Humans and Titans... coexist'_

This time, no one bothers to hide their outrageous gasps.

"Are you crazy?! There is no way humanity and those..._things_ can live peacefully together!" Eren snarled.

"Humans and Titans coexist?" Connie whispered to Sasha. "I'm not that smart but even I know that's impossible!"

'_Did Eldia won against Marley in the Great Titan War?'_ Ymir thought. '_The only way I can think of for us to exist with the Titans is that the Eldian Empire wiping out all the opposing races and rule the world before Helos made a pact with the Tyburs.'_

'_You'll know what I'm talking about when you start watching. But here's the most important thing to know:_' The text disappeared and was replaced with bold letters, '_**Most of the things that you will see either HAS HAPPENED, IS HAPPENING, or WILL HAPPEN in the future.**_'

"None of this is making any sense," Jean whispered, slightly winded.

'_So basically you will see a mix of events from your world happening in my world, but you wouldn't know which is the actual 'future information' and which is exclusive to my world only.'_

Erwin looked grim, which was scaring Squad Levi a little.

'_I'm giving you a chance to be able to pick it out and wield the future knowledge to _win this war. _I'm not going to feed you the answers directly; you have to work for it yourself. Hell, I'm probably too generous to give you humans a chance like this. So, any questions before you start watching?' _

"What are you?!" Oluo immediately spoke up, miraculously without biting his tongue. "No humans can do something of this scale. You...Are you a _god_?"

The screen was silent, and then texts started to appear again. '_I'm not a god, I'm a _governor_, and my name is _Kuro_. That's all you need to know for now.'_

"When can we get out of here? For all we know, we could be stuck watching this until we die." Levi asked.

'_It'll probably take you four hours to watch the whole thing, and if I'm feeling generous, I'll allow you guys to watch some extra. Who knows? I'm planning to let you guys some times to get comfortable, so five hours should be enough.'_

The TV waited but no one else asked another question, so it continued, '_The videos are pre-recorded, so don't even bother asking me if I happen to pop up during one. There is food in the fridge—open the handle of the grey box in the corner—and the bathroom is in that stall over there. There should be enough to feed an army for a week, so don't worry about running out.'_

"Thank you for allowing us this chance, Kuro." Erwin nodded. "This is indeed a great leap towards our goal."

'_No need for that. Just pay me back by showing me some really entertaining time later on. Now, let's watch Episode 1 of Attack on Titan: Junior High!'_

After everyone settled down on the sofa, with Connie, Sasha, and Eld checking out the food in the fridge, Jean pinched his cheek, "Ow! So it's real….we _really_ are going to watch the future."

Eren grumbled, but he wasn't even annoyed at having to sit next to Jean, "I agree with you there, Horse-face. I can't believe it...This is a chance for us to see the possible future so we can change it for the better."

"I know! The possibilities are endless, but I wish we could have seen the actual future instead of possible futures." Armin nodded along.

"Honestly?" Mikasa shrugged, "We are lucky to even take a _glimpse_ the future, much less the possible futures. So I'm not complaining."

"What's with the title though...Attack on Titan: Junior High? What is a 'Junior High' anyway?"

Erwin pressed play on a foreign black object. He shrugged, "There were instructions on the table."

**The screen lit up. A pair of birds flew on the golden sky. Eren's single eye widened as he stared at something. The birds flew across the Wall where a massive red hand clutched at it.**

Everyone flinched.

'_No way...could it be _that day?' Eren thought, horrified. '_Mom...did mom die?'_

"Oi, I thought this was a world where Titans and humans coexist?!" Oluo whispered.

Hange leaped out of her seat in excitement before Levi, who unfortunately was next to her, pulled on her ponytail, "Sit down, you Abnormal."

"That's the Colossal Titan, isn't' it?! He's huge! Ohhhh wait until I get my hands on you darling…." Hange trailed off as she smiled madly.

Sasha exclaimed, "Holy….he's huge!"

**Mikasa, Eren, and Armin stood staring at the Wall with a horrified expression.**

"I don't recognize those style of clothes." Petra noticed. "It's definitely another world."

'_The scarf.' _Mikasa fiddled with her own scarf. '_So_ that _happened, too.'_

"**Humanity was reminded on that day—wait, who are you?!" The alarmed voice was cut off as sounds of a fight and cries were heard.**

Everyone was startled. Mikasa looked at her blonde friend. "Armin...was that you?"

"That's definitely my voice but…" Armin trailed off.

**A girl's voice sighed, "**_**Wow...who knew people took that long to hold their breath...Okay, sorry for the interruption, people! I'm Kuro and I'll be narrating this instead of our KO-ed narrator! So where were we…"**_

"_That_ was Kuro?" Gunther blinked. "She sounded...younger than I thought."

"_**Ah, here we are**_**." Solemnly, Kuro started narrating. "**_**Humanity was suddenly reminded that day...of the terror at being at their mercy...**_"

**The Colossal Titan's head raised over the wall, its shadow towering over the three children.**

"_**Of the humiliation of being trapped inside a cage…"**_

**The screen went black.**

"The Wall still exist," Erwin noted, as Hange scribbled that down to a notebook she pulled out from somewhere.

**The scenery changed to Eren's house.**

"Is that….a house?" Levi asked warily. "Kinda looks like the place where those fancy nobles would live but smaller."

"And what are those poles with wires hanging from them?"

Sasha mumbled, "Birds are perching on it, so they should be pretty high up...I think?"

**Mikasa whispered, "Eren.."**

"**Eren."**

"**Eren! Wake up."**

Jean looked annoyed, '_That thick-headed suicidal bastard...having a girl towering over him to wake him up like that.'_

"**Mikasa?"**

"**You need to get up."**

"**It...It feels like I had this really long dream or something…" Eren groggily sat up.**

"**What was it about?"**

"**I can't remember…"**

"**Eren...are you drooling?" The face of Eren drooling was shown.**

Most of the 104th trainee chuckled. "You have one hell of a bedhead, dude."

"**Also, we're late."**

"Late for what?" Armin wondered as Eren screamed.

"**I'm off," Mikasa said as she ran pass Grisha with Eren following behind.**

**Carla smiled, "Okay, have a good day."**

"Mom." Eren choked. He never thought that he could hear her voice again.

"**Hurry up, Eren." Mikasa chided.**

**Placing the glass of water he'd downed on the table, Eren ran out of the kitchen with Grisha still reading the newspaper. "See you later, Mom!"**

**Carla turned around and smiled, "Have a good first day of school!"**

"So Eren and Mikasa are going to school. I suppose it would be one of those civilian school that teaches you how to get a job in the interior." Eld noted.

Erwin hummed, "It _is_ a different world, so we wouldn't know. Judging by the Yeagers' reactions, it is normal behavior for their children to go to school every day like that."

**The screen flashed and they saw Eren running while trying to put on a blazer at the same time. "Crap! I don't wanna be late on my very first day of Junior High!"**

"Is Junior High the name of the school? How odd." Petra noted.

"**Hey, Mikasa! Don't you dare tell anyone I was drooling while I was asleep!"**

"**I won't tell anyone...that you put your pants on backward, either."**

Jean laughed especially loud to Eren's face. "Ugh, shut it, Horse-face!"

"I can laugh whenever I want, you suicidal bastard!"

"Shut it, children!" Levi leveled a frigid glare to the two teens as they hastily quiet down, but they saw that their superior was looking at Mikasa, who was trying to make him cower with her own dark aura.

Erwin coughed, "If we can continue, please."

"**Argh! Stop it!" Eren blocked his ear and ran ahead. "Eren! Watch where you are going!" Mikasa warned just as Christa was crossing. They bumped into each other as Christa tried to cover her skirt after she fell down.**

Connie mumbled, "Lucky guy…"

"**I'm sorry. I was in a hurry." Eren held out a hand as Christa took it.**

"**That's okay. I was in a hurry, too, so…Ah….my breakfast!" She looked at the piece of toast on the floor. A new voice popped up.**

"**Hey, hey, **_**hey**_**! What the hell kinda plot are you tryin' to pull by bumping into **_**my**_ **precious Christa while she had toast in her mouth?!" Ymir came up and forcefully separated the two apart.**

Christa lit up. "Ymir! There you are!"

"I agree with my TV-self there, Eren," Ymir growled at the Titan Shifter.

"**Plot…" Mikasa murmured.**

**Ymir pats an oblivious Christa on the head as she hugged her. "Are you okay, Christa? Marry me once the entrance ceremony is over."**

"Does this happen often?" Gunther quietly whispered to Connie, who was the closest to him.

"Ah—It does, sir!" Connie squeaked.

**Eren picked up Christa's hand and placed something into her palm. "Sorry. Buy something else to eat with this**—"

"**I told ya to keep your damn hands off her!"**

"—**Well then, I'm in a hurry, so…"**

**Eren ran off with Mikasa in tow as Ymir yelled, "Don't ever show your face again!"**

**Christa looked down at her palm and blinked, "What am I supposed to buy with this?"**

"Seriously? _Ten yen_? I could do so much better than that—"

Petra elbowed him on the side. "Doesn't matter!"

"**We'd better hurry up!"**

**Eren bumped into Sasha, who was carrying a watermelon.**

"I sure hope that you aren't this unaware of your surrounding, Eren. Otherwise, we will really have a problem." Levi drawled.

"**Ah! My watermelon!"**

Almost at the same time as TV Sasha screamed, Sasha also stood up and yelled the exact same phrase. "Eren! How could you! That's a _watermelon_!"

"I wasn't the one who broke it!" Eren said defensively.

Jean wondered, "What is a watermelon anyway? It looks red and...why are there black spots in it?!"

"Watermelon is a type of fruit that the people in Wall Sina usually have after dinner," Hange said. "It's sweet and the black seeds are used to plant more of them—or so I've heard."

"**Eating watermelon in the morning?" Mikasa mumbled.**

"**Sorry! I'm in a hurry, so…!" He placed a small card in Sasha's palm and ran off with Mikasa.**

**Sasha yelled after them. "Pay for my watermelon!"**

**Eren growled, "Dammit! I'm not gonna run into anyone**—"

**Right as he knocked Jean into the ground. Eren stared at the person and said, "We'd better hurry up." And jumped on Jean's face to move ahead.**

"Hey!" Jean's loud cry was ignored in favor of the laughter from nearly everyone in the room.

**Mikasa stepped on his face and Jean got a nosebleed.**

Jean was mortified as Mikasa glowered at him.

"**Dammit...Just how far away is this school?!"**

**Mikasa looked at Eren, **'_**I want to devise a plot to bump into Eren, too.'**_

"The hell, Mikasa?!"

Said girl was trying to hide her face into her red scarf.

**She imagined lending a hand to Eren as imaginary wind blew her hair back. "Are you okay, Eren?"**

**Eren nodded in confirmation and took her hand.**

No one from the 104th trainee class dared to laugh, fearing their number one soldier's wrath while Eren stared in bemusement. Mikasa refused to look at him.

"Brats," Levi grumbled.

**Mikasa's eyes shone wildly as she sped off in a different route at high speed. Rounding the corner was Connie, "Coo, coo, coo. The pigeon says coo."**

"Oh hey, there's me!"

Jean grumbled, "What kinda of dumb song is that?"

**Eren and Connie were about to bump into each other before Mikasa slammed into him and knocked Eren into the air. "AHHHHHHH!"**

Laughter erupted from Connie, Sasha, Jean, and Oluo, who was just trying to irritate the new recruit.

Eren sent a deadpanned look at Mikasa who was still blushing.

"**Eren, wait!" Mikasa chased after Eren as Connie tilted his head questioningly.**

**Eren landed with a crash. Mikasa, Ymir, Christa, Sasha, Jean, and Connie ran up to him, all have their own motives.**

**Eren looked up, "So, this is…."**

**A shot of Wall Maria appeared.**

"Hold it!" Gunther exclaimed. "Wasn't Wall Maria destroyed by the Colossal Titan at the beginning?!"

"The gate's also not locked. How do we keep the Titan out?" Petra wondered.

"Well, we coexist in this world, right? But then again the Titans would eat the students though…" Eld said.

Erwin interrupted, "I'm sure we'll get our answers soon."

"**...Attack Junior High School!"**

"**It's huge!"**

**The new students stared in awe as the school bell rang. "Oh, shoot! We're late!"**

**Mikasa followed along and the others took it as a cue to snap out of it and follow the brunette if they don't want to be late.**

"**My watermelon!"**

"You are _still_ going on about that?!" Eren deadpanned.

"It must be a good watermelon."

"**That way!"**

**Eren leads everyone into the Titan Building.**

"Yeager, are you blind or something?" Levi asked incredulously. "How could you miss that huge print on the floor?"

Before Eren could answer, Mikasa snapped, "It _is_ a huge print _on the floor, sir_. Something like that isn't easy to read."

Levi scoffed, but Petra was worried. "So this place has a separate building for Titans, but Eren and everyone wandered into it…."

The weight of the woman's word set into the new recruits and all at once they cried,

"_NO_! I'm too young to be eaten!"

"Eren you dumbass! Look what you've gotten us into!"

"It wasn't even me!"

"I'm dead meat….Why did I even come along..."

"Don't worry, Christa, I'll keep you safe."

**They ran under a big wooden bench. As they come to a large number of buildings stacked on top of each other. "So huge!"**

"**It looks kinda creepy."**

**The bell rang again. "Oh, shoot!"**

**Running in the oversized hallway, Jean spoke up, "Hey...don't you think...something's odd?"**

"Way to go, Captain Obvious." Ymir snorted.

**Eren shot back, "Just what do you think is odd?!"**

Jean smirked at Ymir, "Apparently not enough."

"I'm not that dumb!" Eren cried at his TV self.

"**Huh?! Does **_**this**_ **look perfectly normal to you?!"**

"**Ah, there it is! Year 1, class 4! It's over there!"**

**They stood in a line before the massive door in silence. Connie spoke up, "Hey...I have no idea how to open this door...but it's not just because I'm stupid, right?"**

"**Just be quiet, idiot," Ymir said absently.**

Ymir murmured, "Hey...isn't this…"

"Is there something wrong?" Erwin paused the episode and looked at Ymir. Levi and Hange also stared at the freckled girl in interest.

"When Commander Pixis was talking about how Eren is the result of humanity's experiments to turn someone into Titans, Connie also said something like that about what the Commander was talking about and I reply the same thing."

'_So this is what Kuro mean about seeing events mixed up between the two worlds.'_ Armin and Erwin came to the same conclusion as the latter spoke up. "I see...I believe the 'future information will be in some of the scenes like this. Hange, please write everything down no matter how trivial it might be."

"I'll help, too!" Petra pulled out a similar notebook and began writing.

"Has anyone of you see something that looks familiar yet?" Erwin turned to the new recruits and asked.

"Nothing stood out yet, sir," Armin replied.

"I see. Make sure to tell us if you see something familiar."

"**Look." Mikasa pointed to a human-sized door. **

**Cracking the door open, Eren walked in. "No one's here."**

They tensed. The tables are huge, so this must be where the Titans are. And why were these kids walking into what was clearly the Titans' place without care? Aren't they scared of being eaten?

"And why the hell are there Titans at _school_?" Oluo grumbled.

"**Don't you think something's strange?"**

**Eren snapped, "Just what do you think is strange**—"

**Eren was hit on the head with an eraser.**

Both Mikasa cried out his name, but one of them clutched the Titan shifter's arm.

"**A-An eraser?"**

**Eren stood up and angrily carved his name into it, "I'm gonna make a stamp out of it!"**

**Christa commented, "That stamp will be backward, right?"**

"**Calm down, Eren. Something **_**really**_ **is strange."**

"**Like I said, just what is strange**—"

**A triangular ruler fell on top of his head as blood squirted out.**

"**Ahh! Ahh! Ow! Ow! Owwwwwww!" Eren flailed around.**

"Anyone else curious as to why he hasn't bled out yet?" Petra asked her couch mates.

Levi shrugged. "Probably Titan regeneration bullshit."

**Sasha, Connie, and Jean have terrified expression on their face as a titan picked Eren up.**

"**Huh?"**

"Eren!"

"You suicidal bastard, you really are done for!"

"**A-A Titan?!" He exclaimed before falling on his butt. The titan reached down to grab something.**

"Run away while you still have a chance!" Armin whispered. None of them were wearing the maneuver gear, and there weren't any horses around.

Christa feels lightheaded. "How is _this_ coexistence?!"

**The titan picked the eraser up.**

"_**A titan took something precious away from me!"**_

Jean interrupted, "Why didn't it eat him?"

"Is that an Abnormal?!" Hange gushed. "You guys are _so_ lucky!"

"That's not really a word we'd use but _sure_, whatever."

Eren spluttered, "B-But Mom's not dead!"

"Maybe you were referring to the peace of your home? I mean, you did say 'some_thing_', not 'some_one_'." Armin offered.

**The titan froze when it looked at the carved-up eraser.**

**Eren screamed in rage, "I'm going to drive you all out! Every last**—"

**The titan threw the eraser at Eren's face before a rain of school supplies landed near the rest as they tried to run away.**

"**Wh-What's going on?!"**

"**We wandered into one of the Titans' classroom!"**

"'_Titans' Classroom_'!" Everyone deadpanned incredulously.

"I wanna be a teacher there!" Hange drooled.

**Jean pulled down Connie's trouser as Ymir pulled Christa out of the way and everyone crashed into each other and out the door.**

"Pervert." Ymir held Christa in one hand and glared at Jean while the poor boy stuttered.

"**You brats! What are you guys doing?!" Hannes cried as he pointed the broom at them.**

"Hannes?!" The Shiganshina trio exclaimed.

Levi raised a brow, "You three know him? Also, he's drunk."

"Yeah...he was like that in the past…." Eren chuckled nervously. "He used to be a Garrison member stationed in Shiganshina, but ever since the fall of Wall Maria from five years ago, he'd become a unit captain."

"He was the one who saved us on that day." Mikasa further explained.

**Hannes laughed, "That sure was a disaster, huh?"**

"**It's not funny."**

"**Sorry. That's the Titans' school building. Your school building is this one."**

**Everyone stared, "Whoa…!"**

"**Welcome to Attack Junior High School!"**

"**I-It's normal."**

Erwin paused. "So this is what a 'normal' school building in another world looks like."

"Is that a pool?!" Eren exclaimed. "That's so much water wasted!"

"And that brownish field with the white lining. What's that for?" Armin wondered.

Jean offered, "Exercising maybe? And I see a part of the river next to it. There's also a town on the other side of the Wall—Wait _what_?! Isn't that Wall Maria though?"

"Who knows."

"_**Year 1, Class 4, huh. Probably for the 104th trainee class."**_ **Kuro commented.**

"**Attention!"**

Said trainees jerked awake at the familiar voice thundering at them.

"**Homeroom for Attack Junior High's 104th Year 1, Class 4 begins now!"**

"That's Instructor Keith!" Connie winced. He absently rubbed the spot where the man held his head up years ago. "Which means…."

"So the school is basically our life as a trainee?" Christa wondered.

Sasha laughed, "'Welcome to Attack Junior High! By Keith'? That's so _not_ him!"

"Huh, that's strange," Jean noted. "Not everyone is there." And there's Marco, alive and well.

Eren exclaimed much to Mikasa's annoyance, "Ah! There's Reiner, Bertolt, and Annie!"

Petra whispered, "He's as loud as I remember."

"I know, right?" Eld winced.

"**You have the misfortune of having me, Keith Shadis, as your homeroom teacher! I do **_**not**_ **welcome you warmly!"**

"The board speaks otherwise!" Sasha whisper-shouted.

"It's almost identical to the speech we received," Armin said. '_With this, we have reasonable assumptions that the future parts will be accurate.'_

"**In your current state, you'd be nothing but food for the Titans! You are mere livestock! You are **_**less**_ **than livestock! You are worthless nothings!"**

**Marco turned to Jean, "Nice to meet you."**

"Marco…" Eren whispered, '_That's right...we didn't even know what happened to him. Maybe this will show us.'_

Jean was having similar thoughts, '_I want to know which sick Titan it was that only ate half of him and leaving Marco there to bleed out….I swear I'll cut it into pieces!'_

"**Now, I will have you start by introducing yourselves!"**

**Christa stood up and salute. "I'm Christa Lenz! Nice to meet you!"**

"**I'm Ymir." Ymir leaned over and grabbed Christa and pointed at the class, "If any of you lay a hand on my Christa, you are dead meat, got that?!"**

"Damn straight!" The hidden shifter huffed.

"Be nice, Ymir!" Christa chided.

"**I'm Annie Leonhart from Wall Maria South Elementary."**

"Hmmm...'elementary'...gotta write that down into the 'Unknowns' list…" Petra noted.

"**I'm Reiner Braun. Nice to meet you."**

"Reiner looked so buffed." Connie laughed. "Like a gorilla."

"**Next! Who the hell are you?!"**

**Connie stood up, "Sir! I'm Connie Springer from Wall Rose South District's Ragako Elementary!"**

"Ha! It's even right to the salute!" Connie exclaimed.

Gunther commented, "That's the wrong side."

"'Ragako is a village south of Wall Rose, isn't it?" Levi remarked. "So is this 'elementary' like a village?"

"Who knows?" Hange shrugged.

"**You have it backward, Connie Springer! Is your heart on your right side?! Next!"**

They laughed at the way Shadis drilled his hands into the side of Connie's head.

"If I remembered correctly, then it's your turn next….'_Potato Girl'_." Eren smirked cheekily.

Sasha immediately dropped her smile.

"Eren? What are you talking about?" Petra asked.

"Wait 'til you see it," Jean replied for him as the trainee chuckled at what's coming.

"**Y-Yes! I-I'm Bertolt Hoover. Nice to meet you."**

"**Next!"**

"**I'm Thomas Wagner!"**

"**I'm Mina Carolina. Nice to meet you."**

**Eren mumbled, "I'm gonna say it. I'm gonna say that I won't yield to the Titans**—"

"**I'm Franz Kefka and**—" "—**I'm Hannah Diamant!"**

**Mikasa sighed, exasperated. Eren continued mumbling, "—I'm gonna drive them out with all my might!"**

"**Next!"**

"**Yes, sir!" Eren immediately stood up and saluted, "I'm Eren Yeager from Shiganshina Elementary!"**

"**Why did you enter this junior high?!"**

"**In order to drive all the Titans out from this school...no, from the entire **_**world**_**!" He landed on the table with a foot stomping on it and exclaimed.**

**The entire class stared at him with a varied amount of incredulous expressions.**

Jean snorted, "That was so lame, Yeager."

**Thomas said, "Hey, he said he'd bring down the Titans."**

"**There's no way that humans can defeat the Titans." Mina whispered.**

'_Well, we sure have a chance now.'_ Erwin glanced at the Titan shifter as he grumbled about pessimistic idiots.

"**What's with them? They are such downers."**

**Mikasa deadpanned. "That's not the issue here, Eren."**

**Jean chuckled, "Geez...Looks like we've got a weirdo in our class. I don't wanna have anything to do with bad news, including the Titans." He flipped his hair.**

"Why did you join the Survey Corp, then? Some people say that we are a magnet for troubles." Eld curiously asked.

"I don't even know myself." Jean grumbled. "Probably have something to do with the way that Eren's insanity is contagious."

"Why you—"

"Shut it."

An order from Levi has the two sat down to glare at each other.

**Eren asked, "Who are you again?"**

Everyone from the 104th trainee class burst out laughing.

"_Seriously_?!" Ymir deadpanned through her laughter.

"**Jean Kirstein! I've been with you since this morning!"**

TV Jean's offended tone only serves to make them laugh harder.

"**Eren, was it? Considering how you are, I bet you didn't fit in with your class in elementary school because you creeped people out."**

"**Yeah! So what?!"**

"So 'elementary' is a school. Good to know." Hange nodded to Petra.

"**For your information, I was a star player in our soccer club. On top of that, I did well in school, so I was very popular. I got twelve New Year's greeting cards last year**—" **Jean looked to the side, "**—**well, that's adding in seasons greeting cards."**

"Anyone knows what 'soccer' is?" Connie asked.

"Nope."

"**What did you say?! I-I can't think of any specific examples off-hand, but I had lots of fun every day! **_**Yeah**_**, I did have fun!"**

"Loser." Oluo scoffed.

"**What's your problem?!" The two teens asked as they squashed their noses together.**

"**Stop it." Mikasa intervened. Her hair was blowing as Jean stared dumbly with a blush. **

Jean, realizing what this is about, sunk lower into his sofa, '_Please don't tell me…'_

"**We are in junior high school. You should try getting along with your classmates."**

**Jean stared dumbly. Mikasa noticed his gaze and turned to him, "What is it?"**

"**Ah! Sorry! You have very pretty black hair."**

"Ha! So is this the reason why you fought with Eren so much, right, _Jean_?" Sasha asked suggestively between squeals of laughter.

"You like _like_ Mikasa, don't cha!" Connie added. Everyone was too busy giggling. Even from all the noises, Jean could hear Mikasa's bland voice, "I'll just pretend I didn't hear anything and move on."

Jean sunk even lower into his chair, too embarrassed to even look up.

Eren tugged on Armin's sleeve, "Is that why he was really angry after I told Mikasa to cut her hair?"

"Probably." Armin sent an amused smile his way.

"**Eren, your collar is unbuttoned." Mikasa ignored Jean and ran up to Eren.**

**Eren smacked her hands away as Jean stared dumbly, "Stop it! I'm not your little brother or your kid!"**

**Jean grabbed Eren's uniform, "You bastard! I feel so jealous!"**

_Now_ even most of the veterans were laughing.

"Poor guy." Petra giggled.

Oluo nodded. "Hpmh. I can totally relate—I mean a popular guy such as I can't even begin to understand how you feel—_UGK_!"

"That's what you get for talking smack about other people."

"**Huh?! Let go of me! If you pull that hard, you're gonna tear my uniform!"**

**Keith whacked the two on the head, leaving huge red bumps on as he noticed Sasha munching on an onigiri behind the textbook.**

"Oh my." Eld smiled in amusement.

Sasha groaned as Connie pointed out. "Hey, where did the potato goes? Are we supposed to call you onigiri-girl now?"

Sasha pouted, "How about you call me by my name?"

"**Hey...What do you think you are doing?"**

**Sasha stared at Keith defiantly before taking another bite out of the onigiri. Keith got into her face and screamed, "I'm talking to you! Who the hell are you?!"**

**Sasha swallowed, "I'm Sasha Blouse from Wall Rose South Elementary!"**

**The music began to swirl in the background as Keith looked at the shorter girl, "Sasha Blouse...What is that you are holding in your right hand?"**

"**Onigiri, sir! It's got moist wild salmon belly in it, sir!"**

"Salmon!" Sasha drooled, "Sounds delicious!"

"**Why…? Why did you decide to eat it now?"**

"**I couldn't eat my watermelon this morning, so I elected to eat it now."**

"**No, I don't understand. Why did you eat the onigiri?"**

"**Are you asking me why it's not the spicy mayo barbeque beef kind, sir?"**

"I think I wanna try that."

The complete and utter seriousness of TV Sasha and her own words only made them laughed harder.

"Damn, even I won't have the guts to say that to his face." Gunther chuckled.

"**I want one." Connie drooled.**

"Yeah, what I said."

"If everything's the same...then here's the best part." Jean laughed.

"**Ah!" Sasha broke her onigiri in half, made a face and give the salmon-less 'half' to Keith. "Here's half of it for you."**

Even Erwin and Levi couldn't suppress a chuckle. That was barely a half, and without the fillings to boot.

"This seriously happened?!" Eld asked incredulously. "I can't believe it."

_"**Ha...lf?"**_

**Sasha gave a strained smile at the Instructor.**

**The scene cut off and showed part of the school along with the Walls. **"_**The entrance ceremony will begin soon."**_

"Woah! Who's talking?!" Oluo startled.

"Probably their announcer or something."

"_**Students are expected to come to the schoolyard with your lunch." **_

**Sasha was shown holding two buckets with a large lump on her head.**

The trainee chuckled as Sasha grumbled, "Yeah, yeah. Laugh it up, jerks."

"—_**I repeat. Please come to the schoolyard with your lunch."**_

"**With our lunch?" Sasha repeated.**

**The students fall into salute at Keith's voice. "Attack Junior High's 104th entrance ceremony begins now! First, we'll have some words from our headmaster!"**

**A bolt of lightning hit the ground.**

They tensed.

"Hey now...don't tell me….are we currently at the invasion of Trost?" Jear fearfully asked as the Colossal Titan appeared over the wall.

"Why would the headmaster be _that_?!" Petra exclaimed. "Or rather, why are the human teachers submitting the students to the Titans?!"

'_Could it be…' _Erwin's mind flashed. "Could the screen is implying that the Colossal Titan is the leader of the Titans?"

"That...would make sense." Armin slowly started. "At Shiganshina...and at Trost, too. Immediately after the Wall was kicked down, Titans started going in. It would make sense if it commands them to do so."

"Hange and Petra, get ready. I'm resuming it now." Erwin ordered. The two of them nodded, hands gripping their pen and turning into a new page of note.

**The hand gripped the Wall tightly, leaving cracks behind as the students stared fearfully at the skinless red monster.**

"**I-It can't be…"**

"**Th-That Wall….is fifty meters high!" Connie exclaimed.**

"**It's one of them…a Titan!"**

**Eren trembled in anger. "He's…"**

**He flashed back to the moment when Hannes was carrying him over his shoulder as he cried, "Stop!", reaching his hand towards the Colossal Titan's direction where it was clutching something. Mikasa looked away, wide-eyed.**

'_It can't be…'_

A flash of something was dropped but it was gone too fast for them to see.

"B-But Mom is still alive! And the Colossal Titan wasn't the one w-who…" Eren choked, "..._ate her!"_

"Eren. Calm down." Mikasa soothed him.

"Well, let's find out, shall we?" Jean's tone and his grim face say that he doesn't look forward to this one bit.

**Eren glared, "He took something precious away from me!"**

"**Eren! You mustn't say it!" Mikasa warned.**

**The Colossal Titan kicked a hole through the Wall.**

The new Survey Corp soldiers' face was stricken. They are going to die for sure now. Eren doesn't even know he's a shifter, and even then he's not going to be able to protect them and defeat that _thing _while fighting off all the other Titans that will eat them, and none of the soldiers have the maneuver gear on them to escape.

"We are done for…" Connie gritted his teeth.

Petra assured him, "You'll be fine. I'm sure that nothing bad will happen." But even she looks like she doesn't believe her own words.

**Titans started walking in as the students desperately ran away. Mikasa tried to pull Eren away to no avail.**

"**Ahhhhhhhh!" Thomas screamed. He was in the mouth of a titan, staring at them wide-eyed.**

Armin flinched at hearing the familiar voice. Eren gripped his hands tightly as his knuckles started to turn white. "Thomas…."

"D-Did he dies like this, too?" Sasha whispered fearfully.

Not trusting himself to answer properly, Armin gave a short nod.

**The Titan tilted his head back and swallowed Thomas whole….before spitting him out again.**

"_WAIT, WHAT?!"_ The whole room screamed as one, all stood up from their sofa. Even Levi and Erwin couldn't keep the shocked look from their face.

"It spits Thomas out. It _spits_ Thomas _out_! What the _fuck_ is going on?!" Eren asked, bewildered.

"I-Is it an Abnormal?!" Hange questioned, "No, even Abnormals doesn't spit humans out after swallowing them."

"Hey...is this what Kuro means by coexistence?" Oluo asked, fearful for the answer, "Because if that's the case….I-I don't even _know_ anymore."

"Let's find out." Erwin glared coldly at the screen and no one dared to question him. None even bothered to sit down.

"**Thomas!" Mina cried.**

"**AH! My gyoza lunch!" The titan swallowed the lunch box whole.**

"I-Is everyone else seeing this? Or am I just delusional?" Ymir asked shakily.

"**My tuna sandwich!"**

"Because it seems to me…"

"**My salmon lunch!"**

"—that the Titans of this world….eats human _food_ instead of humans."

"**So this is how they are!"**

"**My omelet!"**

Eren stared at the Kawaii Titan picking up the omelet and fell down to his knee. Mikasa immediately kneeled beside him, "Eren—!"

Then he started laughing.

Everyone stared at him in horror, but he ignored them and continued laughing, albeit hoarsely, before his voice got smaller and he let out a furious roar that startled them all. Even the veterans couldn't suppress a flinch.

"A world where Titan eats our _lunches_ instead of _us_?!" He snarled. "That is impossible! _Unfair!_ Why did we get these monstrosities when the people in that world got off with just a _lunch_ stolen?! Why?! So many people would've been saved if the Titans didn't eat them! What did Mom died for?! What did Marco, Thomas, Mina, Mylius, Nac died for?!"

His voice became broken, "What are _we_ dying for?"

"We are dying for the people of the Walls."

Eren's head snapped up and he saw Levi glared at him. The captain grabbed his shirt and pulled him to eye level. "Don't complain about how life is unfair, because it always is, _brat_. Don't you dare say how good the people of that world as it because yes, while their situation might be heads and shoulders above us, they still have their own _problems_. If you are just going to sit there and whine like a piece of shit, then _use that damn head of yours to figure out a way to control our own damn power to eradicate the Titans just like how you've been bitching for months now_!"

Levi dropped him on the floor and walked back to his seat before plopping down, fingers moving furiously through his hair. Mikasa helped Eren up.

"It's true that all of us felt unfair because of our situation." Erwin started softly. "But we can't afford to stay in one spot and complain about how bad our lives are. We have to move on and actually do _something_ about it. Eren, the world we are watching...it was never _ours_. We can't long for something that _isn't_ ours to begin with. That is not right. We can only suck it up and move on."

"That's all we can _do_."

There was a stunted silence as the soldiers processed the Commander's words.

Eren looked down and berated himself for acting brashly. "I-I'm sorry, sir, I have been way out of line."

"Hn." Levi ignored his charge and took a sip of the tea on the table.

"Don't worry, we all have our moments." Erwin chuckled. "Let's see what happens next."

"**Mom made me that fried chicken lunch!"**

"Damn….even _I'm_ mad at my TV self for yelling something like that when our people are being _eaten_." Connie whispered to Sasha.

Armin looked at the screen, '_Good thing that Franz is still alive and whole.'_

"**Eren!"**

"_**It's happening again, just like that time."**_

"Does the Colossal Titan want Eren's lunch, too?"

"**They take the things we hold precious from us!" Eren snarled. "I won't be threatened into submission!"**

**Eren dashed off before the Colossal Titan could grab him. "The target is right in front of me! The Colossal Titan!"**

"**Eren!"**

"Ever the suicidal bastard, I see." Jean chuckled., feeling the need to blow away the still tense atmosphere.

**He snatched the large drawing compass from Hannes and a broom on the stair, "This is my opportunity! For us junior high kids, this single step will be a great leap forward!"**

**He ran up onto the roof of a building and came to a stop, staring into the Colossal Titan's blue-grayish eyes as he rounded the corner and continue charging ahead.**

"He's so _huge_." Christa murmured, watching the Colossal Titan leaning on the Walls, arms folded.

"**Go, Eren!" Jean cheered.**

'_This is absurd…' _Jean thought.

**Eren leaped off the rooftop and straight onto the Colossal Titan's direction.**

"**I got him! Huh?"**

**Eren fell in midair.**

Laughters and facepalms were equal in intensity.

"Dumbass…" Levi groaned.

**The Colossal reached down and grabbed Eren's lunch box. "Ah!"**

"**Stop it! My precious…cheese Hamburg steak lunch!"**

The deadpanned atmospheres was shared by the people in the room.

"Seriously?" Ymir groaned, "You really do live up to the name 'Suicidal Bastard', aren't you."

"Eren, you like cheese hamburg steak?" Armin asked his best friend.

"Well, not _that_ much like the me on the screen," Eren darted a half-hearted glare to the groveling teen on the TV. "But yeah. Mom used to make it for me when we actually have enough money to afford meat _and_ cheese."

Meanwhile, Mikasa's mind was filing through the names of people she can ask for cooking lessons.

**The Colossal Titan swallowed and move down from view. **

**Sasha whispered, "Cheese Hamburg steak...?"**

"**He laid his life on the line over…a chee-burg."**

"Hey, cheese Hamburg's delicious!"

"**Chee-burg bastard."**

**Mikasa sighed, "This is why I told him not to say it."**

"**My chee-burg…"**

**The screen focused on the three ****silhouette****s inside the school building.**

"_Ohhhhh_ is that who I think it is?!" Hange squealed excitedly as Levi tried to cover his ears.

"Ugh, shut it Four-eyes!"

**Levi stared down at the scene and tsked, "Damn chee-burg bastard."**

"What did I do?!"

* * *

"Okay, so let's do a recap, because I think we all need it." Jean messaged his forehead. "Not even half an hour ago, we were about to go on our first expedition ever before suddenly coming to this place. There we learn that we are going to watch an alternate universe which holds future events for us to separate and use from. Also, we learned that the Titan of the other world eats...human food instead of us, and Eren's an idiot."

"Hey!"

"And that I have another family." Mikasa added firmly.

"That too." Jean nodded, completely ignoring Eren.

Levi asked, "Did we learn anything useful?"

"Not really. The glimpses of the Colossal Titan were somewhat helpful, but the designs are different from our world so I can't tell much." Hange explained, "But we learned a lot about their world. Basically, they are far, _far_ more advanced than we are.

"Then let's watch the next episode." Erwin said. "Does anyone needs a break?"

Everyone shook their heads.

"Then let us get to episode 2."

* * *

**I hope that everyone wasn't too OOC, but then again, this is a Humor/Parody fic so I have a little leeway there. Like I said earlier, I reread _Power to Strive_ more times than the actual manga itself, so there might be some similar details that I wasn't able to catch. If so, then sorry, but I'm human, I'm allowed to make mistakes.**

**What Kuro said about the future was somewhat true. AoT: Junior High has a lot of moments where it kinda showed the 'future' (this was just before the 57th expedition) just like that moment when Reiner and Bertolt got saved by a cannon. If the Scouts can pick this up, then they'll know what to expect (so something like 'I see, so sometime in the future, Reiner and Bertolt will almost get hit by a cannon. We just don't know when or where').**

**So how was it? Please leave a review; they really make my day!**


	2. Chasing! Titan Junior High

**Disclaimer:** I don't own Attack on Titan Junior High

* * *

"Eh?! There's nothing in here!" Sasha exclaimed as she opened the thing Kuro called a 'fridge'. Supposedly, there is enough food in here that can feed an entire army.

"What are we supposed to eat now?!" Connie moaned. "Is it Kuro's plan to make us starved to death all along?"

"We are only watching this for four hours, Springer." Eld smiled in amusement at the two teens' antics. "I'm sure a soldier like you wouldn't die that fast."

"_Hello. What would you like to eat today?" _An androgynous voice spoke up monotonously, startling the three mentioned and everyone else behind them.

"Woah! What was _that_?!"

"Is it just me or did that grey box just talked?!"

"It's called a fridge, Oluo."

"No one gives a damn, Gunther!"

Erwin sighed, "So these…'_governors'_ have their own storage mechanism that can make food almost instantly, too? Why am I not surprised..."

"Excuse me, sir." Armin spoke up, "Why would you think that?"

"Kuro said that there's enough food to for an army in there and that we shouldn't worry about running out. The fridge is empty, but I can hear the machinery running softly behind it, so I was just assuming." Erwin nodded quietly before turning to the fridge. "Good day. May I ask what your name is?"

"_Hello. What would you like to eat today?"_

Erwin frowned, "What is your name?"

"_Hello. What would you like to eat today?"_

"Maybe that thing hasn't been programmed to talk, Erwin." Levi smirked, "No need to ask its' name."

The Commander flushed a little, but the attention was brought to Sasha when she asked loudly, "Hey, fridge, what do you have for us to eat?!"

"Oi, Sasha. Are you sure we should be eating this?" Jean questioned, "How can we be sure it's not poisoned?"

"We don't know." Sasha shrugged lightly, drool visibly on the corner of her mouth. "But it's not like we get an opportunity like this every day; I wanna eat futuristic food!"

"Y-Yeah." Connie was tempted as he hastily wipes his mouth with his sleeves. "If I get to eat a bite of good food from the future, I can die happily even if it's poisoned."

Jean _slapped_ a palm to his forehead, groaning.

"I think it's alright; if Kuro had planned to kill us from the beginning, she wouldn't have brought us to this room and go through all that trouble." Petra reasoned. "Besides, I want to try the governors' food, too."

"Count me in!" Hange pushed Levi over to run to the fridge. "Hey, do you have a list of things we can eat?"

"_Hello. What would you like to eat today?"_

Oluo groaned, "Great. We have to _ask_ for it ourselves; hell, we don't even _know_ what the governors eat!"

"That's a little disappointing," Eld commented but halted his words when Sasha and Connie's eyes positively sparkled.

"_MEAT_!" Sasha yelled. "Gimme _meat_! Lots of it! Oh, pork, chicken, turkey, _beef…_.I'M COMING FOR YOU!"

In the other corner, Levi thought to himself. '_Great. Now we have a food addict version of Hange in the Corp. And Blouse even looked like her. As if one menace isn't enough already.'_

"_It will be done."_

A very large, very _red_, and very _raw _slab of meat appeared in one of the fridge's shelves.

Connie and Jean fell off their couch laughing while the others weren't that far off.

"_HAHAHA—_Th-There's _your_ meat, potato girl! _HAHAHA!"_ Jean choked out between peals of laughter.

"That's not what I meant!" Sasha yelped, blushing brightly. "I want _cooked _meat! More specifically, steak and mashed potatoes and green peas!"

"_It will be done."_

A tray of steaming beef steak, appetizing buttered mashed potatoes and pea along with sauce and tablewares appeared, surprising everyone.

"Woah! That smelled so good!" Petra exclaimed. "Even better than what I've eaten in the capital!"

"YES!" Sasha screamed. "_MEAT_!"

Connie began, "Hey, Sasha...do you mind if I take a teeny, _tiny_ little—"

"NO WAY! GET YOUR OWN FOOD, SPRINGER!"

'_Such an advanced device._' Erwin thought in awe. '_I couldn't smell or feel anything being made before the plate suddenly popped into existence.'_

'_Just how powerful are these governors?!' _Armin wondered the same thing.

"I want fried chicken, and what was it again—_AH!_ Gyoza, salmon onigiri, watermelon, and spicy mayo BBQ beef onigiri, _please_ and _thank you_!" Connie exclaimed.

"Hey….isn't it the foods from the last episode?" Christa asked.

Ymir snorted, "He's an _idiot_, alright."

Connie's requested course appeared in the fridge and he let out an ecstatic yell before joining Sasha on the couch to dig in. That, and fending off the other's grabby hands from their respective plates. Everyone else took it as a cue to start ordering.

"I wanna try that 'cinnamon rolls' thing that those nobles often eat!"

"Strawberry ice cream and the butter cookies that Lord Wald always eat, please!"

"I want my share of steak, _damn it!"_

"What is going on?" Eren questioned incredulously as he stepped out of the bathroom.

Armin smiled at this best friend while holding onto a delicious looking tray of meat and vegetable curry with a side of buttered carrot rice, "Eren! Come here; this fridge can give us whatever we want to eat!"

Eren raised an eyebrow, "Didn't we eat before going on the expedition already?"

"It's not every day we get to eat _delicious_ food, dumbass. I can't remember the last time I get my hands on some _meat_." Jean smirked as he used his teeth to tear the thick and juicy slab of ham into chewable size. "Ugh, a little salty, but it's still _meat_!"

"Stuff it, Horseface," Eren commented absently without any heat. "I don't really feel like eating anything though...especially considering the last episode…."

Eren trailed off and as one everyone slowed down. The revelation that the people of the world they are watching lost their food, not their lives to the Titans still stung. Levi noticed the downtrodden atmosphere and scoffed, "So what? Who cares if they lose their food on a daily basis? We should just worry about ourselves; stuff your faces in so you have the energy to face the Titans, brat."

Though his tone was cold, Eren smiled a little as he nodded. He spoke to the fridge, "A plate of cheese hamburg steak and fries, please!"

_WHAM!_

Everyone face-faulted in incredulity though Sasha took special care to not drop her food.

"Seriously?!" Ymir groaned. "You really are a dumbass, Eren."

"Hey, _what_ did I do?!" Eren yelled defensively. "Why are you guys reacting like that?!"

"Just…" Jean placed a palm on his forehead, "You know what? I can't deal with this much-concentrated stupidity—" "_HEY!"_ "—in one day. Let's just ignore this and move on. Everyone agreed?"

"Agreed." The group concurred monotonously.

Once everyone had gotten what they wanted—a special order of black tea with whole milk and sugar for Levi—the group quickly settled down and started the next episode.

"Alright, everyone." Erwin nodded to the recruits. "It seems like you guys are the main characters of this show. Keep an eye out for anything and _everything_ familiar or unusual and report it to us."

"_Yes, sir!"_ Said recruits saluted, some were more muffled than others because of the food chewing.

"I haven't tasted food this good in _years_~!" Hange swooned along with Petra, who was surrounded by plates of candy, cookies and its varieties.

Eld whispered, "After finding out the truth behind the Titans, I think I might want to know how women can eat _so_ much sweets and _not_ get sick." His soon-to-be wife can take a him-sized bite out of cake if she can help it.

"Your funeral, man," Gunther whispered back. "I actually want to live through the Titans and celebrate with my parents when it's all over with."

"**I'm looking forward to that DVD we're planning to watch today!" Hannah said to Franz as they walked out of the classroom.**

"**Me too!"**

"Hannah and Franz...died in the invasion, right?" Christa asked uncomfortably. She hasn't seen the two after the invasion.

"They heroically sacrificed themselves on the battlefield and valiantly done the duty of a soldier." Armin quietly whispered.

**Sasha chomped on three pocky sticks before she said with a mouthful, "Come to think of it, the person who sits at this desk hasn't come to school."**

"Ohhh! That looks delicious!" Sasha exclaimed around a mouthful of beef.

**Eren looked over to the empty seat, "Oh, you mean Armin? He really hates the cold, so he never comes to school during the winter."**

Everyone whipped their heads around to stare at the small blond. Armin was mortified; it's true that he prefers the warm summer to cold winter, but not _that_ much!

"**It's already spring." Connie leaned up from his desk.**

"**Just how warm does it have to be for him to come to school?" Jean questioned.**

**Mikasa continued, "He should start thinking about his attendance record."**

"**Yeah," Eren stood up, "Why don't we go check on him after school?"**

"**Hey, you lot!" A voice shouted, making everyone flinched.**

**Upon realizing who it was, they snapped into proper salutes as Sasha hastily finishes up her pocky box, "Instructor Keith!"**

"**Care to explain to me why you guys are the only ones who haven't join a club yet?!"**

"A club?!" The group chorused. Petra asked in bewilderment, "You mean like those bars from the Underground with strippers?! _Why_ in the name of the Walls would they let children there?"

Hange said, "Maybe it means something different in their world. And didn't TV-Jean mentioned something about a soccer club in the last episode?"

"**Club activities, huh?" Eren trailed off thoughtfully, "If there's a club dedicated to beating up Titans, then I'd join that in a heartbeat."**

"So these so-called clubs are various activities done with other people and someone can apply for it. Good to know." Erwin noted.

Jean smirked, "Always the suicidal bastard, aren't you Eren."

"Why you—"

Levi was too tired to tell the two brats to stuff it, so Mikasa and Armin have to physically stop the two, much to their chagrin.

**Sasha smiled exasperatedly, "Well, that's certainly an Eren-like response."**

"**Eren Yeager!" Keith suddenly shouted as Eren and Sasha stood ramrod straight, the latter snapped into a hasty salute. "You and the absentee Armin Arlert went to the same elementary school, didn't you?!"**

"**Yes, sir!"**

"**Go collect the club admission form from him by tomorrow. If you fail, I'll put him and the whole lot of you in whatever club I damn well feel like!" Keith's eyes glinted. "Is that clear?!"**

**Eren could only whimper.**

"Loud _and_ scary. Check." Oluo mumbled. '_Some people just never change.'_

**The scene moved to Eren and Mikasa walking out of a convenience store. "Thank you for coming!"**

Ymir raised an eyebrow, "What is that building? 'Shingeki 24'?"

"Eren is holding some kind of bag and someone said 'thank you for coming'. It's probably a store." Christa noted. "They are very polite!"

**Eren looked at the steaming bag, "Meat buns and amazake. If a bag of these doesn't get him out of the house, then nothing will!"**

"'Amazake?'" Most of the recruits who haven't been to the interiors questioned.

"It's a type of drink made from fermenting rice over long periods of time." Hange explained, "It is notable for the natural sweetness during the fermentation process and often enjoyed by the high-class nobles as New Year celebration."

"So they have access to top quality food, too." Eren mumbled, "Lucky bastards."

"You _do_ realize that you are basically dissing yourself, right?" Levi blandly spoke up.

**They didn't notice the Titan towering behind them.**

**Eren spoke into a door intercom, "Hello!"**

"Is that also one of the 'noble-class device', too?" Connie asked.

Erwin shook his head, "No, I have never seen anything like that before. Eren is speaking into it, so I will assume that the device somehow transports his voice inside the house."

"That sounds so cool!"

**A footstep rumbled the ground as they turned around to see the Titan that followed them earlier. It grabbed the bag from Eren's hand. "He took the meat buns! You bastard!"**

Eren pulled a face at his TV-self.

**Eren ran in front of the Titan, staring up at its' massive form. "Wait, Eren!"**

"**Give me my meat buns back, you damn Titan!" Eren charged but he was grabbed by the gigantic hand. "Dammit! Let go of me you filthy Titan! Take my iron fist!"**

"Ugh…" Eren groaned. "Kill me now…"

Everyone was tempted to take the brunette up on his offer, jokingly as though they might be, but a death glare from Mikasa shut their idea off before it even started.

**Eren tried to swing desperately but he was too far away; from an outsider's perspective, he looks more like a child throwing a tantrum while the Titan sneered on.**

**Mikasa looked on worriedly, "At this rate, the meat buns are going to be cold."**

The viewers laughed at her priorities; even Mikasa herself couldn't suppress a smile. Normally she would've worried over Eren, especially when he's in a Titan's hold like this, but the Titans of this world don't eat human, so Mikasa has _almost_ nothing to worry about.

**Levi ran across the roof as he spun up and smacked the Titan on the back of the neck with his paper fan, taking it out in a single blow.**

"That's our Captain!" Oluo smirked at the recruits.

**Mikasa caught Eren in her arms, the bag of meat buns falling on top of his head snuggly. "Who's that?"**

Jean laughed especially loud to irritate Eren.

**Levi landed effortlessly on the Titan with his back facing the siblings as Eren stared at the symbol under his blazer. "That's…the Wings...of Freedom."**

"Ah! It's from that time!" Eren blurted out.

Erwin paused the episode and asked the shifter, "Which time are you talking about?"

"It was after I sealed the hole in Trost District, sir. I was coming out from my Titan form and Corporal Levi was there, cutting down the approaching Titan in the same manner before landing like that. Even though I was only half conscious at the time, I remembered it since the Wings of Freedom on your back really stood out to me, sir!"

'_Right. The midget was there. I completely forgot.'_ Mikasa thought.

"Ah." Levi acknowledged with a short sound as Hange wrote that down.

**Mikasa wondered, "That uniform...he's an upperclassman at Attack Junior High?"**

**Levi looked over his shoulder as his hair was blown softly in the wind. "Hey, you brats. What exactly is going on here?"**

"So...freaking...cool!" Connie muttered in awe.

**Seemingly ignoring their savior, Eren stepped down from Mikasa's hold, "I've decided, Mikasa! I'm going to join whatever club this guy's in! That's how I'll hone my Titan fighting skills!"**

**Mikasa observed him for a moment, "Then I will, too."**

**Levi poured himself a cup of tea on top of the **_**still**_ **KO-ed Titan.**

"Did you do this back then, too, Levi?" Hange nudges the shorter man with a wink.

Like always, Levi ignored her in favor of enjoying his tea and biscuit.

"**Mikasa! You don't need to; you said yourself that we should stay away from the Titans!"**

"**That I did, but that's exactly why I'm doing it. With me there it won't be your doom."**

'_This somehow feels familiar…'_ Eren and Mikasa thought simultaneously, the former is a little irritated.

**Seeing her determined gaze, Eren conceded, "All right. Together then."**

"**Hey, answer the damn question, you twit."**

**Finally remembering that Levi was still there, Eren turned around excitedly, the bag of meat buns still on his head. **

"_**I wonder if his brain cells are roasted from the heat yet." **_**Kuro snickered.**

"It has." Ymir nodded sagely.

"**Sir! Which club do you belong to?!"**

**Levi replied, "Its unofficial name is 'none of your damn business', chee-burg bastard."**

"Must you always be so rude?" Mikasa shot Levi an irritated look, to which the man responded with the same vigor.

Armin, being one of the unfortunate souls in the middle of their glaring match, sighed, '_I think I might even prefer Eren and Jean's squabble over this. At least those aren't lethal.'_

"**Huh?"**

**Armin's grandfather's voice broke in. "Sie sind das essen und wir sind die Jager, hah! Hah! Hah! Hah!"**

_**Kuro added mockingly, "For the dumbasses—read: you Survey Corp people—who don't understand German: 'They are the prey and we are the hunters' is the rough translation. There are quite a few varieties running around these days."**_

There were quite a few tick marks going around the room.

"Did she just say that we are stupid?!" Eren demanded hotly.

"Jean, Eren, and Connie aside—" "_EXCUSE ME?!"_ "—we are actually pretty smart ourselves," Ymir responded coolly.

"I'm torn between thanking Kuro for giving us this chance and snapping at her for insulting us like this."

"You have to admit, the line sounded pretty cool and inspirational." Armin referred to the German line

"_**On that note, if I'm feeling generous enough, then I'll give you guys a copy each of the OP CD as souvenirs. Epicness must be distributed around, ya know?"**_

"OP CD?" Mikasa inquired. "What is that?"

Eren said, "Whatever it is, I hope she'll give us one. It sounds awesome if it's epic."

"It'll be great if she'll give us that." Erwin nodded. "We at least will have some proof that we've been here should we need to report to the authority on where did we disappear to for the past hour."

Sasha looked vaguely disappointed, "I was hoping we could take the fridge along…"

"**That's Armin's grandfather!"**

The young boy could feel tears gather in his eyes, but he quickly wipes them away. Eren put a comforting hand on his shoulder and Mikasa moved closer to the boy.

The others knew better to ask.

"**Tsk, old geezer…" Levi stood up. "Don't beat the futon!" **

**He jumped to the balcony and started struggling with the man, "You should use the futon beater as if you are sliding it to the side otherwise you'll risk damaging the batting inside!"**

"**Whoa! What are you doing!? Stop it!"**

**Levi was insistent, "Give me that! I'll teach you how to use the futon beater!"**

No dared to sneak a look at the Corporal—well maybe Mikasa—due to the dark aura he was exerting on the account of how the TV was mocking him like this. Hange felt no such restraints as she openly howled with waves of laughter.

"That is _suuuchh_ a Levi thing to do!"

**Eren stared on with a deadpan look, "Let's just go to Armin's room."**

"—**look at this! Your technique is completely wrong!"**

**Once inside, Eren called out in front of Armin's room, "Armin! Open the door!"**

"**There's something we want to give you; open up!"**

"**I can't!" Armin said underneath his futon, "There's no way I can survive...in this hellish cold! This world is hell...it hasn't become hell, it's been hell! I was just mistaken until now."**

"**It's already springtime!" Eren deadpanned.**

Though embarrassed, Armin voiced his thoughts, "After Eren was swallowed by the Titans in Trost, I had the same line of thoughts. Just with less….cold thoughts."

"Ah. Thank you." Erwin nodded.

"**No, it hasn't become spring...This world has always been winter, from the very start. The Siberian cold air mass and a low-pressure system...A typical winter weather pattern; high pressure in the west, low in the east."**

"**I think he's lost his marbles…"**

A few people chuckled, and Armin might as well fainted from all the blood rushing to his face.

"Hmm...that information sounds useful," Hange noted.

"**Armin, listen!" Mikasa spoke up loudly, "We have meat buns and amazake."**

**Armin immediately opened the door, "Really!?"**

**The kettle boils as Armin sighed in content, "It's so nice and warm, isn't it?!"**

**Mikasa and Eren were sweating bullets, the former even more so at the numerous amount of heaters placed around the room. **

"Damn...that looks like a pig roaster." Jean breathed.

"Hange, Petra, please draw a rough sketch of those machines," Erwin ordered, "Their function is to release heat into the room through unknown means."

"There are rectangular holes on one side," Hange noted as she draws the heaters. "Probably to release heat...though I have no idea what is the source of energy that allowed such an incredible phenomenon to happen."

"**Hey...Armin...doesn't that make you feel hot?"**

"**Nah. I'm good."**

**Mikasa was dizzy as she tried to sit upright from the heat. "Mikasa, wouldn't you feel a bit cooler if you took off that thing on your neck?"**

'_Why does she always wear that scarf anyway?'_ Jean thought, a little annoyed. Knowing his luck, it probably has something to do with Eren.

"**I'm okay." She shook her head. "We should get some fresh air in here."**

**Armin became teary has his friends shifted to look at him, "I can't. I feel cold these days even when I'm wrapped up in my futon." He clutched his futon tighter.**

"**Well duh. That thing's definitely been getting thinner since there's a tear in it."**

"**Heh?!" Armin turned to look at where Eren is pointing. "You're right!"**

"**Maybe you should just buy a new one."**

**Armin hugged his futon, "I can't! This futon has been with me ever since I was a little kid! Cold days were warmer when it cradles me in it's delicious warmth! No other futon would…."**

**The window snapped open abruptly. Mikasa blissfully smiled as fresh air hit her full force.**

"Corporal Levi?!"

"**You are—!"**

"—**Wh-Wh-Wh-What on earth is going on?!"**

**Levi tsked in annoyance, "Give me that!". He snatched the futon off of Armin and jumped off from the balcony without a glance back.**

"**Ah! My futon!"**

"Did he seriously just broke in, get in a fight with the owner, stole his grandchild's futon, and left?" Jean deadpanned, but only small enough for his couchmates to hear.

Eren proudly boasted, "Corporal Levi's awesome, right?"

"That's not….you know what Yeager? _Whatever_."

"**We will go after him, Mikasa!" Eren ran down the stair with Mikasa and Armin, who was in a bright blue cotton cat pajama, in tow. They ran out to the outside but no one was there. "We lost him."**

"**What am I going to do?" Armin fell down on his knee. "That futon is precious to me. Be it a cold day or a cool one, that futon wrapped me in its warmth. What am I going to do without it?!" The blond finished with a sneeze, teary-eyed.**

"You are out of your futon for a minute and you _sneezed_?!" Hange asked incredulously. "Your TV-self's immune system must seriously suck!"

Even though he knew the scientist didn't mean anything by it, Armin still flushed in embarrassment.

"**Wear this for now." Eren extended his blazer to Armin. "But where should we start looking for him?"**

**Mikasa noticed something glinting on the floor as she picked it up. "Eren, look."**

"**That's...the button on the back of his jacket!" The flashback of the Wings of Freedom on Levi's blazer was shown.**

"**If we ask around at school, we may be able to find out something." Mikasa offered.**

**Eren smiled, "Mikasa, you are a genius! Let's go!"**

Even though the words weren't directed at her, Mikasa still felt her heart flutter when Eren complimented her like that.

**They nodded, with Armin sneezing again.**

**The three ran to school and was met with the sight of Jean, Connie, and Sasha slumping on the bench as if someone had sucked the life out of them.**

"**What's the matter, guys?! Don't tell me the Titans attacked you?!"**

**Sasha looked up, tears streaming down her face, "I thought I can eat as much as I want if I joined the Cooking Club!" A flashback of Gelgar and Nanaba scolding Sasha as she bunched on the carrot was shown.**

"That's Nanaba and Gelgar, two veteran members of Squad Mike," Petra added helpfully after seeing the confused looks on the recruits' face.

"This Cooking Club sounds nice though," Sasha whined.

"**So you snacked on all the ingredients…" Eren deadpanned.**

**Connie continued, "Since I have close-cropped hair, I was scouted for the baseball club, but…" An image of a Titan crouching down while Connie tried to lift a titanic bat made of **_**metal**_ **up to no avail.**

"**How do they expect you to swing that bat?"**

"That looks heavy," Eren mumbled.

"Baseball: apparently a sport where you have to lift and swing a heavy metal object." Hange wrote down, completely missing the _actual_ definition of the game.

"**The soccer club I checked out was a disaster, too," Jean whined as he remembered a Titan kicking the ball his way as he ran for his life.**

"Good thing we can put a definition to it now," Petra turned back to the page where she added soccer in the 'unknown' column and add a small note next to it: 'A sport where you run for your life from a black and white ball kicked by someone.'

"**They oughta call it pushball so you know what you'll be getting into."**

**Jean glared, "Dammit. What is wrong with this school?!"**

"**The other clubs are like that, too." Reiner interrupted as him, Bertolt, Ymir, and Christa came up. "The Judo Club's a total joke and Ymir said the same thing about Brass Band."**

**Armin sneezed, catching everyone's attention. Sasha asked, "Hey, who's that?"**

"**Oh, he's Armin—the guy who's been absent from school all this time," Eren introduced.**

"**H-Hi, I'm Armin Arlert—" he sneezed. And sneezed. And sneezed again.**

'_That's so annoying.' _Levi thought irritatedly.

"**Um...are you alright?" Bertolt hesitantly asked.**

**Sasha interrupted, "That's one heck of a sneeze attack."**

**Connie pipped up, "Is it contagious?"**

"**No. He just catches cold easily when he's not wrapped up in his futon." Mikasa answered their questions.**

"**Oh, that's right." Eren fumbled in his pocket, "Have you guys seen this before?"**

**Everyone eyed the Wings of Freedom with interest. "It belongs to someone who took out a Titan with one blow and stole Armin's futon."**

**Jean sneered, "Someone took out a Titan with one blow? What the hell?"**

"**Wait. I've heard about it." Reiner chimed in, "Words through the grapevine states that in this school, there is a shadowy secret organization that rebels against the Titans under the flag of the Wings of Freedom.**

The new recruits stared at the battle site and silhouettes of the veterans in awe. "So cool!"

"'Shadowy Secret Organization'?" Gunther echoed dubiously.

**Eren leaned into Reiner's face as his eyes become starry, "A club where all you do is beat up Titans?!"**

Levi scoffed, "Predictable dumbass."

"**Eren looks happy," Mikasa noted.**

"**My futon may be there, too." Armin nodded along.**

"**That's not all." Reiner continued with a serious face, "They say that the strongest man in the human race is in that club."**

Everyone turned to look at Levi. "What?"

Eren frowned, "'The strongest man in the human race' doesn't sound as cool as 'Humanity's Strongest Soldier though..."

"**The strongest man….in the human race?" His thoughts immediately turned to Levi.**

**Connie smiled as he punched the air, "'The strongest man'...that sounds really cool!"**

"**If we join that club, do you think they'll teach us how to keep our lunches safe so we don't have to give it to the Titans?!" Sasha wondered.**

**Jean smirked, "If I defeat Titans while looking all cool, I might even become popular amongst the hotties in this school."**

"Ugh…" Ymir eyes Jean with disgust as she held Christa closer to her.

Jean protested, "That wasn't even me!"

**Eren leaned up eagerly, "What's the name of that club?!"**

"**Hey, easy there. This is a secret organization we are talking about here. It's not like they have a sign over their door to—" Reiner trailed off once he saw what's in front of him.**

"**...Attack Junior High...Scout Regiment?"**

"...um..."

**Christa smiled, "That wasn't hard to find."**

"**I was just going by what I heard, okay?" Reiner said defensively.**

**Ymir deadpanned, "They are advertising quite openly."**

'_**Join and become part of our shadowy organization! The Scouts' Main Base of Operations.'**_

Petra's eye twitched, "I hope this _really_ isn't what it looks like or I might just ask Kuro to help put me out of my misery."

**Jean read over the poster and noted, "This is just like a secret base elementary kids would set up."**

"**Honestly I'm starting to get a little discouraged…"**

"**Guys, knock it off!" Eren stood in front of them and yelled, "There's a chance that the strongest man in the human race is in there! You wanna talk smack about his club where he can hear us?!"**

"**Will you kids shut up?!"**

The Special Operation Squad perked up at the voice, "Hey, isn't that—?"

"My time to _shine_, baby!" Oluo stood up from his seat, pumped his fist and cackled.

**Eren turned around, startled. Oluo peeked out of the door. "Why are you here? If you are under the misguided assumption that we are a secret organization dedicated to standing up against the Titans then you've wasted your time!"**

"**So it's true!"**

"**No! There has been some kind of mistake! The existence of the Scouts is shrouded in secrecy! There's no way a bunch of first years brats could have heard of us!"**

"**You are...pretty much giving it **_**all**_ _**away."**_ **Sasha deadpanned.**

"**No kidding….wow."**

"Bozado...I hope that this thing isn't implying that you are the loose mouth who either has or will blab the Scouts' secrets to the world by accident; otherwise, you'll find yourself spending a few nights with Eren here in our holding cell." Levi was only half-joking; the purpose of the 57th expedition was to catch the traitor amongst them, after all.

Oluo yelped, "No, sir! I have done no such thing! Please believe me!"

"Calm down, you two. We can save the discussion for later." Although Erwin's tone was light, Levi could tell that Oluo was now one of the older man's possible targets.

**Eren bolted up and held onto the door, "In any case, please let us in!"**

**Eren and Oluo struggled with the door as the latter tried to close it. Mikasa spoke up, "We are just looking for our friend's futon. Please let us in."**

"**You have a lot of nerves! What makes you think we are in the habit of submitting to whoever decided to show up—"**

**Eren accidentally let go of the handle, "—at our door—**_**UGK!**_"

The new recruits chuckled, "You brats! How dare you laugh at your senior's misfortune—_GAK!_"

**Oluo bit his tongue and flew backward. Petra, Eld, and Gunther stared at him. "Oluo!"**

**Gunther ran up and pick up his comrade, "What happened?! Was it an assassin?!"**

"**Unbelievable! What kind of animal would cut a man's tongue!" Eld ground out as he held up a shaking fist.**

**Petra whispered, "We are now marked by the school!"**

"**Um...excuse me?" Eren hesitantly stated, "He….kinda smacked himself with the door and bit his tongue."**

**The three stared at the brunette with stone-dead expression before Gunther withdraw his hand, causing Oluo to fell to the floor, biting his tongue yet again.**

The members of the Special Operation Squad laughed extra hard at Gunther's action.

**Gunther stood up, "Come to think of it, Oluo bites his tongue about three times a day."**

"**I'm still waiting for the time when he had the decency to **_**bleed out**_**."**

"Totally!" Petra grinned.

"Hey!"

**Oluo stood up as he wipes away his bloodied mouth, "Petra! That was a terrible thing to say!"**

**He then pointed to the first years who have entered the room while the upperclassmen were chatting amongst themselves. "I bit my tongue because **_**these**_ **clowns suddenly showed up and demanded to be let in!"**

"**What can you do? They are **_**first-year**_ _**students**_**." Petra shot back.**

'_I wonder how many years are there in this junior high.'_ Armin thought.

"**Hmph!" Oluo flicked his hair in a pompous manner as he leaned his hand onto the window. "We **_**are**_ **a shadowy organization that operates in secret. I suppose we can't expect first years know-nothing to make an appointment, now can we? They—"**

'_I really want to punch this guy…' _Jean thought.

Seeing his rival's revolted expression, Eren made a snide remark, "Hating your own kind, Horse-face?"

"Are you calling me a horse, Eren?!" Oluo demanded.

"Ah! No, sir! I was just saying that you two have similar dislikable and pompous attitude…ah.." Oluo's glare intensified, "...sorry, I'll shut up now."

**Ignoring Oluo droning on and on, Petra smiled welcomingly, "I'm Petra Ral. Nice to meet you guys. Do you really want to join the Attack Junior High Scout Regiment?"**

"—**absurd things like using a futon as an excuse to join us—"**

"**Yes!" Eren nodded enthusiastically. "Well, that's one reason, but we are also looking for the owner of this right here…"**

**Eren trailed off as he heard footsteps. Hange slammed herself into the door's window as she startled Eren so he fell on his butt.**

Eren sweatdropped, "And this is when I first met Hange."

"That's so creepy," Connie muttered.

"**Hange!" Petra smiled.**

**Ignoring Hange's crazed expression, Mike opened the door. "Mike! Welcome back!"**

"**Hey, guys...guess what I found?!" Hange pulled a transparent jar out of nowhere and startled twirling with it, "A **_**fresh**_ **supply of Titan fingernail clippings directly from the dumpsters to your home—Huh, that's funny," Hange trailed off as she looked at the first years, "there's a lot of faces here that I don't recognize."**

Everyone looked disgusted at the jar's contents.

"TITANS' _FINGERNAIL_ _CLIPPINGS_?!" Hange roared, "OH MY SHEENA I WANT THAT! Hey, Levi can I—?"

"No."

"Please?"

"_No_."

"_Pretty _please?"

"_Fuck no_."

"Pretty please with a cherry on top?"

Levi didn't bother replying and smacked her across the head instead.

"**They are first-years! They are here to check out our club, maybe even join!"**

"**Really?! There's so many of them! Who would have thought that we'd get this much interests!"**

**Mike sniffed Jean and sneered smugly, startling the young teen. "Wha…?"**

"What?" Jean echoed.

Gunther answered, "Squad Leader Mike often have the habit of sniffing people and smirked like that."

"**I bet you wanna join us because you are interested in stuff like this, huh?" Hange pushed the jar into Eren's face.**

"**Uh...no, not really."**

"**There's no need to hide how you feel!" Hange swooned and drooled, "If you really wanna dismember Titans—in the name of better understanding them of course!—then this is most definitely the place you wanna be!" **

**Moblit warned as Hange snuggled her face close to the jar, "Hange! You'll scare them off!"**

"**What do you even do with those Titans' fingernails?"**

"GUNTHER YOU IDIOT!" Eld and Oluo yelled.

"I KNOW!" said soldier shot back.

**Mike sniffed Connie and he sneered again. Jean tried to sniff himself.**

"**Hey, stop! Don't ask Hange questions!"**

"**What is the deal with this club? I feel like we've stumbled into a nest of psychos!" **

Petra turned around to face her junior with an amused smirk, "Was this what you think of us, too, Eren?"

The embarrassed teen could only nod in response.

**Eren mumbled, **'_**Still though...when you get right down to it, these are the people who seek change. There's a reason why they called themselves the Scout Regiment.'**_

"—**Oh, I knew it. I thought you looked like you wanted to ask me about it!"**

**Mike sniffed Bertolt and he cried.**

Unbeknownst to the recruits _and_ the members of Levi Squad, the three veterans tensed immediately.

'_TV-Mike cried and made a disgusted expression….' _Hange stopped writing entirely.

'_...the only time Sniffy would do something like that…'_ Levi set his cup of tea down.

'_...is when he smelled a Titan.'_ Erwin concluded grimly, '_No doubt about it...that boy is now our prime suspect for enemy shifters, if everything from the screen is correct—which up to now, they are.'_

"Hey, shitheads," Levi growled, "Who's the tall looking dumbass behind Eren?"

Eren perked up, "Oh, you are talking about Bertolt, sir? He's our friend from the 104th training class."

Jean hesitantly offered after the captain's glare intensified, "Bertolt Hoover who ranked third overall and he always hangs around Reiner Braun, who is one rank above him?"

Levi's tone was rigid as he motioned for Hange to write that down, though it wasn't needed as the scientist was already doing that, "I see."

"Why does he want to know about Bertolt?" Armin wondered softly to Eren.

Eren nervously rubbed his head, "Well...Bertolt's kinda tall and the Corporal's kinda...uh…_you-know-what-I-mean-Armin_...so I think he's...uh...jealous?"

Levi was too wrapped up in his own thought to care about his charge's comment.

"**U-Um, excuse me!" Armin spoke up, hands gripped Eren's jacket tightly. "Th-The person who took my futon should be here—" he sneezed.**

"**Futon?" Hange looked up. "Come to think of it, wasn't Levi walking around with one earlier, right, Mike?"**

**Mike snorted in response. Eren grinned, "Then please call this Levi person in!"**

"**Oh, if that's what you want, then...here you go!" Hange placed a plastic bottle into Eren's palm.**

"**An empty plastic bottle?"**

"Uhhhh…." The recruits trailed off hesitantly.

"Oh my…" Petra trailed off with an amused smirk since she has a sliver of an idea as to where this is going. Her couchmates looked at her strangely.

"**Well then, let's do it!" Hange grinned madly as she held out a **_**combustible**_ **bin while the others stared on with various degrees of incredulity on their faces.**

"**Ah, sure…" Eren threw the bottle. It hits the edge and fell softly on top of the papers.**

**Almost as if the prayer has been heard, Levi slammed the door open and whacked Eren face-first into the trash.**

**Kuro laughed, "**_**Summoning Jutsu: Magic Cleaning Fairy!"**_

Most people spit out whatever they happened to be eating as one and doubled over with laughter—either because of Kuro's comment or the scene itself.

"_HAHAHAHA—HOLY_ MARIA THAT WAS EPIC!" Connie choked out.

"Y-Your face was straight-first _into—GAHAHAHAHAHA_!"

"C-Corporal was like—_HEEHEEHEE—_that one pizza delivery guy—!"

Levi, who was really annoyed by the fairy comment from Kuro, still managed to crack up a tiny, minuscule smirk.

Eren, on the other hand, was fuming visible steam but he couldn't speak up lest he risks the Corporal's wrath raining down on him.

"**Eren!" Mikasa cried out.**

"**Hey, shit stain! Don't mix plastic bottles in with combustibles. You're supposed to ditch them in the recycle bin!"**

His devil-may-care attitude only serves to make them howled harder.

"**Hey, Levi! Your slap is in excellent form, as usual!" Hange grinned. "Just what we expected from the strongest man in the human race!"**

**Eren lifted his head out of the bin while still sucking on the plastic bottle.**

"**Canned it, Abnormal."**

**Mikasa was positively **_**murderous**_ **in the background.**

At once, they ceased laughing as they _finally_ noticed that they had been too absorbed in their humor to notice that their own Mikasa was sporting the same expression as her TV counterpart.

Actually, scratch _that_, the real thing looks ten times more murderous than her TV-self.

'_**I knew it. This person **_**is **_**the strongest man in the human race.' **_**Eren thought.**

"**That's my futon!" Armin said. "Please give it back—" He sneezed. And sneezed. "Why did you take—?" And sneezed some more.**

"**That's obvious. You don't need a reason to repair a damaged futon!" Levi sewed the hole in the futon and threw it to Armin's head.**

"**Ah~" Armin sighed in content. "It hasn't been this warm in **_**years**_**!"**

**Mikasa was still exerting 'I'll-kill-you-for-hurting-my-precious-Eren' aura in the background.**

"**He's stopped sneezing!"**

**Levi tsked, "He's out of it for five minutes and he catches a cold? I'd say somebody needs to whip himself into shape." **

**Connie commented, "If you put that futon on, maybe you can come to school starting tomorrow."**

"**Yeah, you should do that!" Christa smiled.**

**Sasha said, "I'm happy for you, Armin!"**

"**Yeah! Thanks, everyone!" Armin nodded.**

"**Levi!" Eren yelled, getting the whole room's attention. "Please let me join the Scouts!"**

Christa breathes out a relieved sigh, "Thankfully no nerve-wracking decisions have to be made this time." Ymir smiled.

"Small mercies."

"**Before that…" Levi looked at the room in disdain. "This place is a sty. Get to cleaning and I'll consider it."**

'_Wow. He really is a clean freak like rumors has suggested.' _The recruits thought.

**After all the cleaning was done, Levi questioned, "Now, you lot want to join the Scouts?"**

**Eren nodded firmly, "Yes! Please consider it, sir!"**

"**Do you know what it means to join the Scouts? If the school finds out, you will be expelled. As in kicked out, for good. Have you come here prepared for that?"**

"**We came here prepared!" Jean said.**

**Sasha agreed, "He's right! We care a lot more about our lunches than our transcript!"**

"**I want my mom's fried chicken back!"**

"Now I feel bad," Connie mumbled.

Sasha concurred, "Ee oo."

"Then _stop eating_!" Jean scowled.

"**Hey, chee-burg bastard, what about you? What's in this for you? It's an easy question….for most. What is it that you want to do?"**

**Eren breathe heavily, fists clenched at his side before looking up with **_**pure**_ _**unshaken**_ _**rage**_**, "Me? I want to join the Scouts….and slaughter every Titans that crosses my path!"**

"Same as last time." Eren smiled.

Ymir snorted, "I'm more surprised that they didn't charge you with 'insanity' and hand you over to a therapist. I mean—you looked like a rabid dog ready to bite someone's head off."

"I agree." Levi nodded.

"So _not_ cool," Eren sulked.

**Levi's eyes glinted, "I see...Not bad."**

**The man moved before anyone could see him and slapped a piece of paper on each of their faces. "What are you—"**

"**Whoa!" Eren smiled as he saw the Wing of Freedom on the 'Approved' paper.**

"**You are in. I'll make you guys all members of the Scouts." Levi concluded.**

"YEAH!"

**Connie grinned, "This is so cool!"**

"**Just as you'd expect from a shadowy organization!" Sasha cheered.**

**Eren held up his badge, "Now we are members of the Scouts, too!"**

"**We already…" Christa mumbled.**

"**...belong to different clubs, though." Reiner finished off, but the others ignored them too caught up in the celebrating spirit.**

"Annie's not there," Armin noted. "Probably because she joined the Military Police."

"You know...if the Scouts Regiment is a club, then what about the Garrison and the Military Police?" Eld wondered.

Gunther shrugged, "Probably those are clubs as well."

"**WHAT?!" The group shouted.**

"Oh, what now?" Eren grumbled. "Did their dinner got stolen too?"

'_**Notice: Eren Yeager, Mikasa Ackerman, Armin Arlert, Jean Kirstein, Connie Springer, Sasha Blouse; the following students will be put in the Wall Clean Up Club.'**_

"**Wait...Wall Clean Up Club?!" Eren demanded, "Why?! Didn't we submit our club admission form on time?!"**

**The third years walked by and noticed the noises. "The Scout Regiment is unauthorized." Hange explained, "Don't tell me you seriously thought that the school would approve your memberships?"**

"**Idiots," Levi muttered.**

**The six of them can only stare in shock as Hange's cackles echoed throughout the corridor. **

"**NOOOOOOOO!"**

**Mikasa sighed.**

"Idiots," Levi repeated.

Mikasa was still glaring at the screen; she can't start a fight with the Corporal because his TV-self was the one who hurt Eren, not him. It was pretty unreasonable to start a fight like that even by her standards.

"We haven't learned a lot of useful things from these videos. Not much future stuff." Gunther said thoughtfully.

'_No, you guys didn't.'_ Erwin looked at the talking recruits, '_We, on the other hand, might have found the missing piece to our problems all along.'_

"The food was great, though." Eren complimented, "It's been _quite_ a while since I've had any cheese hamburg steak."

"Who's ready for seconds?!" Sasha exclaimed, already halfway to the fridge to get some more.

'_Good day, Kuro here! How are you finding the episodes so far?'_ The text appeared on the screen again.

"Kuro!" Eren exclaimed.

"Ah, hello to you too, Kuro." Erwin nodded diplomatically. "The episodes are excellent and helpful as expected."

'_That's good to hear. Anyway, I forgot to tell you guys one thing; the fridge operates by you talking to it and ordering what you want to eat. I want you guys to have a taste of what we privileged people ate every day, so yeah.'_

"Thank you very much! We tried it out and the food was delicious!" Petra smiled gratefully.

'_Oh, but you haven't gotten to the best part; I forgot that you wouldn't know what we eat, so I left you a menu in one of the cabinets. Do check it out and have a nice meal!'_

The screen turned back to normal.

"Hey, guys! I found it!" Connie exclaimed, holding up a black leather booklet that said 'Menu'.

"Cuisine from another world, heh?!" Sasha wiped her drool on the back of Jean's shirt. "GIMME THAT TREASURE TROVE RIGHT NOW, SPRINGER!"

"HEY, I GET TO GO FIRST, _DAMMIT_!"

* * *

**I'm really glad that the first chapter has been well-received. Thank you for the six people who reviewed. I'm not going to do the 'Abridged' or 'A Slap on Titans'; writing these things are tough, and when I'm done with this fic, I'm _done_. Also, I don't really like 'A Slap on Titans' that much to spend time making a fanfic out of it. And yeah, I wasn't too sure what their reactions would be upon discovering that man-eating giants were suddenly turned into food-stealing giants lol but then I decided that if 80% of the time Eren reacts with anger to every problem, then this might as well be one of those. Not too sure what you are talking about when you mentioned education, though, so I don't know how to reply.**

**After thinking for a while, I've decided that I might as well throw in the Scouts' reactions to future (read: our time) food and see where it goes. But probably a few episodes at a time; they still need to digest and chew (well, Sasha and Connie should have their own category). So yeah, feel free to comment suggestions on what kind of food you want the Scouts to taste in the menu.**

**OP CD are Opening song CD, by the way. I'm just keeping my options open here. I might give them, I might not. Who knows? On that note, I was serious about the idea of having them watching the OVAs (maybe not the No Regrets; Levi would kill them all before that XD). All of them are before the 57th Expedition so it won't break the 'you can't see the future' rule that I set up. But nothing is concrete _yet_. I'm just going to do the 12 episodes of AoT: Junior High and decides on the OVAs later. Just so you know, if I do finish this story, then you can look forward to at least one reacting chapter...and it's _not_ from the OVAs. *grin evilly***

**So how was the chapter? Please leave a review; I reread them all the time~!**


	3. Dodgeball! Titan Junior High

**Disclaimer:** I don't own Attack on Titan Junior High or Wikipedia

* * *

Somewhere in an ancient library, a young girl in appearance broke the receiver she's holding in half.

"GOD _DAMN_ IT YOU USELESS PIECE OF _TRASH_ FOR A GOVERNOR! _WHAT HAVE YOU DONE TO MY WORLD THIS TIME?!"_

* * *

"What should we order first?" Petra smiled lightly as nothing has happened in the past five minutes.

None of the cadets dared to open their mouth, a little ashamed of the display their fellow graduates just put on for their superiors to see. Connie and Sasha, in their excitement, fought over the menu like two animals and nearly tear said booklet in half. No, it was just torn into _a third_.

"We aw saw sowwy…" The beaten up duo chorused weakly, voice muffled up because of the tape Jean conveniently had on hand when Sasha tried to snatch the menu back with her teeth.

Connie and Sasha were on the floor, rubbing their light injuries as the veterans looked on in amusement, albeit a little annoyed at the new recruits' brashness. In Levi and Oluo's case, though, they didn't even bother to hide their annoyance.

"Petra. Is that thing salvageable?" Levi asked briskly, wiping his hands with a handkerchief. After seeing his ward along with friends failed to stop Baldy and Hange clone, he's taken to deal with the problem himself by kicking everyone who is making a mess. Armin was the only one who got off unscathed since he was smart enough to immediately get the hell out of dodge when he spots Levi's enraged expression in the corner of his eyes.

"Don't worry, Captain." The auburn haired woman taped the destroyed pages together, "It's still readable. Here."

Levi picked up the booklet, ignoring Baldy and Hange clone's obviously excited eyes following his every movement. Levi scanned the booklet and his eyebrow rose up. "There are twelve dishes listed in here, presumably one for each episode. We've missed two, but unless any of you shitheads have a bottomless stomach, you'll be full by the third one."

Erwin motioned with his hand and Levi passed the booklet to the Commander. The man also scanned the thin notebook before announcing, "We will taste one of these per episode to allow time for digestion. There is only one bathroom in here and fifteen of us, and I doubt anyone would like to wait in line for diarrhea. Any untested dishes will be available if we have time in the end. Is that clear?"

A chorus of 'Yes, sir!' echoed around the room.

"First up is something called 'sushi'...and in the description it said 'A Japanese dish of prepared vinegar rice, usually with some sugar and salt accompanying a variety of ingredients such as raw or cooked seafood, vegetables, and occasionally fruits. Description belongs to Wikipedia.'"

Silence.

"What's a 'Japanese'?"

"Vinegar? Is that a new breed of rice?"

"Armin! It said 'seafood'! Would it be from the sea?!"

"Vegetables...ew…."

"Who the hell ate fruits with rice?"

"And what is Wikipedia?"

Patience wearing thin, Erwin barked out, "Silence!"

The effect was instantaneous; everybody shut up faster than you can say chee-burg.

"Fridge, please get us an order of this sushi." Erwin turned to the grey box and asked.

"_It will be done."_

Unlike before, the food appeared on one of the counters instead of inside the fridge, and the group turned to the foreign object—an intricate wooden ship, to be exact.

"What's that supposed to be?" Oluo voiced the question everyone has.

"No idea." Levi blandly said, but one can clearly see the intrigued look in his eyes, "But there's food in here; rice topped with some orange thing and a bunch of other stuff."

Everyone moved closer. Inside the wooden ship were a number of sashimi slices ranging from salmon, squid, shrimp, tuna, and mackerel. There were also a number of rolls including inarizushi, makizushi, hand rolls, salmon roe nigiri, and California rolls made from the ingredients listed above along with a few extra. There are also wasabi and pickled ginger on the side along with wooden chopstick.

"It's so beautiful!" Christa complimented. "I feel a little bad for eating it, though."

'_Huh...sushi.'_ Ymir thought. '_Hopefully, nobody is allergic to any of the ingredients; last I check the Walldians doesn't even know the concept of blood transfer, much less allergies.'_

The new recruits really wanted to dive in; especially Eren, who wanted to get a taste of seafood, but they sneak looks at their superior, waiting for them to eat first before picking up their chopstick. Levi didn't bother to wait for Erwin before making his way to the piece of salmon sashimi.

"Hn." Levi chewed the orange piece thoughtfully before saying. "Not bad. There are fat in this, but not overly greasy...though I really don't know what this is."

Levi eating something seems to break an invisible wall amongst them as everyone started to pick up their chopsticks and tried various dishes, though their reactions weren't the same.

"...Um…"

"Woah! This is so good!"

"It's melting in my mouth...is this heaven?!"

"GAH—Blegh! What the hell is this thing?! It's so bitter!"

The most impressive person is Erwin, who took a bite of raw fish and elegantly push it out of his mouth after covering it with a tissue, not a hair out of place during the entire process while Jean quickly made his way to the sink.

"The red balls popped in my mouth! So cool!" Connie exclaimed, wiping the excess liquid from his hand and mouth after consuming salmon roe.

"Adding the ginger and green substance in only makes it better," Eld commented after swallowing, "Ginger allows a refreshing taste for your mouth—"

"Really?! Let me try!" Sasha quickly swiped a large blob of wasabi and a chopstick-full of ginger before popping it into her mouth.

"—while the green substance leaves a light spicy feeling behind your throat." Eld sighed as the girl let out an inhuman scream before scrambling to find some water. "At least listen to what people said before getting ahead of yourself, Blouse."

A few minutes later, most of the sushi on the ship was cleaned off. They all agreed that some of them were absolutely delicious and heavenly while others left something to be desired, especially raw fish. Ymir knew which one to avoid, so she pushed Christa away from the more 'flavorful' pieces.

"But it has the taste of the sea!" Armin excitedly exclaimed, "I can just taste the salt and the seawater and the slight bitterness of the seafood! It's so amazing!"

Eren groaned, "If the sea really tastes like cow intestine then I might need to rethink my post-annihilation plan. Ugh, the smell!"

"The red piece of meat tastes like blood." Gunther sighed, "It's a wonder how Titans can eat us every day like that."

"Oh, Titans don't have taste buds!" Hange chirped.

"It was a rhetorical question."

Erwin looked over the group, "Are we ready to start the next episode?"

A round of nods answered his questions as the blond man hit play.

**The scene started out with a happy Annie opening her lunch.**

"There's Annie." Eren blurt out.

**It was a delicious-looking cheese Hamburg bento. Ymir and Krista came up to her desk as the latter smiled, "Hey, Annie! What is your favorite thing to eat for lunch, if you don't mind me asking?"**

"**Ah. I like chee—"**

"She also likes cheese hamburg steak?" Jean asked incredulously.

"**That chee-burg bastard from the other day was **_**hilarious!"**_

**Annie froze up as an electric current hit her like a bolt. Thomas kept talking to Nack, "No kidding; I mean when's the last time you've seen someone our age into cheese hamburg steak **_**that**_ **much?"**

"**Right!" Nack laughed.**

"**Um...hello, Annie?" Christa hesitantly spoke up. "Are you okay?"**

**Annie suddenly looked out and she was surrounded by Mylius, Reiner, and Bertolt in addition to Christa and Ymir. "You were about to say chee-something."**

"Their classroom looks so nice," Christa remarked, "They even have their own tables, chairs, and class to sit with. We have to stand on the field days and nights."

Connie nodded, "And look at those school supplies; I'd kill to get my hands on my own pen."

**Seeing that a large crowd has gathered around the table, Thomas and Nack wandered over, "Hey guys, whatcha talking about?"**

"**Uh...actually I think you heard me wrong," Annie clenched her fists with a defeated look, "I said **_**seaweed**_**."**

Hange looked over to the Titan Shifter, "So she like cheese hamburg steak, but because of TV Eren caused a scene in the first episode, she couldn't admit it due. Did something like this happened too, Eren?"

"Uh...I have no idea. When Reiner and I first talked to her, she already looks like she wanted nothing to do with us." Eren quickly turned to Armin, "Any idea what is a seaweed?"

"Um...it's seaweed, so a type of weed that grows in the sea?" Armin hesitantly offered, "I don't know, Eren. It was never said in...you know…"

"Ah." Eren wisely nodded instead of questioning further. Possessing materials related to the outside world is illegal, and Eren wasn't about to blurt it out in front of their superiors even if Armin doesn't have it anymore.

"**Wow! As in mozuku? So grown-up!" Christa complimented.**

**Eren, Mikasa and Armin walked in, "Tomorrow's gonna be the big dodgeball tournament."**

"Dodgeball?"

**Hearing her nemesis' voice, Annie glared at the source, "We are going to kick some major butt!"**

"**Is that a fact?" She growled dangerously, stopping Eren in his track. "I make you this promise right here and now; tomorrow I will personally obliterate you!"**

Mikasa clicked her tongue in annoyance, '_What an unlikable person even in another world.'_

"It's not even that big of a deal." Eren hotly argued, "Can't she just say that she also likes cheese hamburg steak? Who cares what other people think?"

Not willing to get into an argument with Eren and incurring the veterans' wrath, Connie whispered to Sasha, "Everyone else except Eren."

**Eren stared in confusion.**

"**Consider yourselves **_**warned**_**. Humph!"** **Annie scoffed and walked away from the very confused trio.**

**The scene changed to an athletic field where Jean, who was wearing a red bandana across his head, shouted, "Listen up, people! There are fewer things in life more important than dodgeball! We win this and Class 4 First Year will be the coolest kids in school!"**

'_**And my association with the winning team will earn yours truly substantial props with the ladies!' **_**Jean imagined Mikasa, Christa and a few other girls from their class swooning over him. **"_**Oh, Jean! You are so amazing!"**_

The ladies in the room glared at the teenage boy, who cowered before the might of the beasts, "I-I wasn't the one who said it?"

"TV you can also be you." Ymir growled, "I will never be lovestruck like in your fantasies, so this is a warning. If you even dare to think about myself, or Christa like that, then I'll make sure to kill you slowly before feeding your remains to the Titans. _Is that clear?"_

Jean whimpered, but the others weren't done. Sasha exclaimed, "Yeah, that's right! I don't like you that way, Jean!"

Mikasa didn't say anything, but the look in her eyes killed him ten times over.

"**And according to the rules, everybody has to participate. Are we all in? Right! So now begin the saga of my rise to the top—wait, where's Eren?" As he looked over his team, there were Mikasa, Armin, Sasha, Connie, Marco, Samuel, Franz, and Hannah. Eren was nowhere to be found.**

"**Um...it seems he overslept…" Armin shyly told their proclaimed leader. Jean stood shocked still for a moment before he hollered to the high sky.**

"**Damn you eternally Yeager! This was supposed to be my time to shine!"**

The cadets chuckled at Jean's words before it abruptly stopped as Armin voiced out his opinion, "Does it implies that Eren will be late to something important?"

"Well maybe," Hange hummed, "But this 'dodgeball' seems to be important to you guys, but I'll keep that in mind."

**As Jean continued to hyperventilate in the background, Sasha commented while chewing on a baked potato, "Ish a pretty emotional day for him, huh?"**

"**Whatever, he totally loves it." Connie said.**

**Jean mumbled while trying to keep himself calm, "Right, keep it together Jean, just cover up the fact that Eren's not here—GAH!"**

**Keith Shadis slowly stepped out from the wall he's hiding behind and half of his face stared at the students, "Does anyone care to explain to me what's all this rackets' about?" The Flames of Hell appeared behind him as the man's face darkened, "If I didn't know better I'd say that it has something to do with the fact that Yeager appears to be absent!"**

"I remember this!" Connie pointed at the screen excitedly, "It was when Eren and Jean were having another dumb fight and the Instructor came in and Mikasa said Sasha farted—"

"CONNIE DAMMIT!" Sasha yelped, blushing, "I was starting to forget that!"

The veterans chuckled, but it was drowned out by the new recruits' loud chortlings.

**Seeing as everyone was scared shitless, Mikasa raised her hand, "Eren's in the restroom and the racket was because Sasha farted."**

Jean nodded sagely, "And that's exactly how it went down."

"**Ugh. Why doesn't that surprise me?" Keith wrinkled his nose and walked away. "For crying out loud, girl. Learn some restraint!"**

"**Mikasa! Why would you do—?" Sasha shook the raven-haired girl back and forth before Mikasa stuffed a loaf of bread in her mouth.**

"Did this happened, too?" Gunther asked in amusement.

Connie, who by now has lost some of his initial nervousness by meeting a superior officer, nodded.

**Jean said in relief, "Good save!"**

"**In the meantime," Keith said in an authoritative tone as he turned around, "If I catch any of you slackers goofing off, even a little bit, I will personally hand feed you to the Titans myself!"**

"That's strange." Armin interrupted, but then quickly blush when he realized he'd spoken aloud and now everyone's attention was on him.

Erwin paused the episode, "What is it, Arlert?"

"Uh...sir...I…" Armin stammered, before taking a deep breath and spoke clearly, "This world's Titans only eats human food, not human. Why is Instructor Keith saying that he will throw Jean and the rest to feed to the Titans?"

Realizing how much sense he made, whispers start to pick up again at a hurried pace. Hange hummed thoughtfully, "You _do_ have a point, but I also have a possible hypothesis: what if that is just a saying since the Titans over also hunt for food to eat? It is a legitimate possibility. Great insight, though."

"Ah...thank you." Armin murmured softly.

"**Did this just got real?" Jean nervously smiled, "Okay team, are we all in agreement that we cover for Eren until the jerk decides to show?"**

**The group hastily nodded out of fear.**

"**Damn right! And remember; we are playing this to **_**win!"**_

"**YEAH!"**

**Annie looked at the cheering team in interest.**

"**Alright! Let's get this dodgeball tournament underway!" Hannes announced, "The first match will be between Class 4 Team A and Class 1 Team B. Ready? Let's see some sportsmanship! Best of luck!" Hannes threw the ball into the air as the player from the opposite team caught it and threw it to Kaneshi who immediately aimed at Connie. The latter caught it in his grip.**

"Dodgeball: you start by throwing the ball up into the air and one of the two players from opposite teams will smack it to their own side…" Petra mumbled as she quickly writes things down.

"**All right!" Jean smirked. **'_**Connie's a moron but he's a born athlete! If he keeps this up he'll be our first string offense!'**_

"Hey! I'm not an idiot!"

Jean look offended, "I was also complimenting you."

"Yeah, but you make it sounds like I'm just some all brawn and no brain nincompoop."

"'**Kay heads up!" Connie threw the ball to Toyohashi, an outfielder from the opposite team.**

**Jean gripped his head and screamed, "What the hell are you doing?!"**

**Marco panicked, "That's the other team's outfielder! Do you even know how this game's supposed to work?!"**

"**Uh sorry… Tell me what are we playing again?" Connie tilted his head.**

**The clueless ball holder immediately seized that chance since both Marco and Connie are distracted and threw the ball at them. It bounces off their heads. "Connie and Marco are out!"**

"Wow." Eren deadpanned, "I didn't hear what you just said, Connie. Mind repeating that again?"

"That's TV-me!" Connie stubbornly argued, "I'm obviously wayyyy smarter! I graduate in the top ten along with you assholes, remember?!"

**Marco sat down and drew a rough map of the game to Connie, "Dodgeball, you are supposed to hit the other team's infielders—"**

"**What are infielders?"**

**Jean deadpanned, "Huh. Well, I guess that will teach me to not underestimate Connie's stupidity. Hey, on the bright side now we know who's the weakest player is."**

Connie glared to his side, "You are more of an idiot than me, Jean. I mean, you kept picking fights with Eren even though you knew that Mikasa will always come to whisk him away like a princess—"

The taunt for Jean was intentional. However, the taunt for Eren was not.

"None of your damn business you—"

Eren exploded, "You Baldy—Wanna repeat that again?!"

"I said—"

Armin's hushed whisper quickly cut in, "_Danger. 4'o clock."_

The three boys turned around and gulped at Levi's pissed off expression. "_Enough of this crap. Sit down and watch the goddamn episode, __**recruits**__."_

They didn't need to be told twice.

**Armin looked to the side and immediately went into a panic, "Sasha no! What are you doing?!"**

**Sasha was slurping some ramen. "Oat u u in um ooing? Um eein aamen!"**

Christa giggled but was surprised to see that only herself was giggling and looked to her three fellow trainee slash newly minted soldiers. They sat ramrod straight and stared at the screen; not even Connie is laughing.

"**I can see that!" Armin squeaked, "Just why here of all places!"**

"**You expected me to let it get cold?! That's a bloody waste of good ramen!"**

"**You are kinda missing the main point!"**

**Jean fell on the floor in defeat.**

**Kaneshi caught the ball again and aimed it at Sasha, "Look out!"**

**Sasha immediately backtracked and avoided being hit by the ball. **

"Nice reflexes." Eld commented, '_There just seems to be some trend with women that even if it kills them, they won't waste even a drop of food. God knows how many times my fiancée nearly landed herself in the hospital, trying to not spill her food.'_

Sasha beamed, "Thanks, sir!"

"**You're kidding me!" Nomura caught it and quickly retaliate by aiming for Sasha again. But she dodged it again. And again. And again. And while expertly eating ramen while taking care to not even spill one strand of noodle.**

"**Of course!" Armin brighten up, "Nobody can separate Sasha from whatever she happens to be eating!"**

"**Which would be awesome if she didn't have to use her hands!" Jean shouted. "This is just embarrassing! Don't we have one decent player—Wait, there's Mikasa! She's got skills—"**

'_Damn right she does.'_ Jean smirked.

**Satou, a small girl who happens to catch the ball, threw an off shot at Mikasa. Jean sneered, "Ha! No way a throw **_**that**_ **lame can tag out someone like Mika—"**

**The ball hit her and she fell down. "Come on! Seriously, you're **_**that**_ **weak?!"**

**Armin piped in, "Yeah, the thing about Mikasa you've gotta understand is that when she's separated from Eren for too long her stats go down by 30%."**

"Wha—Is this true, Mikasa?!" Eren turned to his adoptive sister and demanded.

"That's—no, of course not." Mikasa said in bewilderment, "I'm fine even without you there by my side constantly."

'_That is if you are sure he is completely in safe territory,'_ Armin mused, but dared not to voice his opinion. '_Otherwise we get a repeat of your reckless performance in Trost—though it shouldn't be as bad.'_

"We should write it down just in case it is related to the future," Levi voiced his opinion, "It might just happen on this expedition."

"It won't." Mikasa insisted.

Hange, seeing that the girl won't go down without a fight, settled for appeasement, "We will keep it in mind, don't worry. I know you are a capable soldier."

"**What?! How is that even possible?!"**

"**The world is a cruel place," Mikasa whispered to herself while emitting dark auras worthy of a Shinigami.**

"**Kinda hard to believe a girl just out of elementary school can go **_**that**_ **dark."**

'**What** _**is with this team?'**_ **Jean thought, slightly winded. **'_**An idiot who can't get his head around the rules, a girl who stuffs her face in the middle of a game, and our star player whose depression is so intense that it's got its own aura!'**_

**Jean threw his head back and screamed to the sky, "JUST WHAT IS GOING ON WITH THIS TEAM?!"**

"Just a side note, if any of you dare to do that during the expedition, I will take you out first." Levi flatly announced. His opinions of the recruits were smashed to pieces after seeing their very immature displays in dire situations like these. Eren had seemed like a capable cleaner and a somewhat satisfactory newbie, but even he can resort to childish squabble with his friends every now and then.

"Yes, sir." The recruits glumly stated.

**The scene changed to where the team is sitting under a bleacher. Jean sighed tiredly, "Okay, the first match's in the bag but I wasn't counting on it being such a struggle to win."**

"**Right?" Armin added with a worried frown, "Imagine if Mikasa was in top form—ACHOO!"**

**Jean looked up, "Hey, what happened to your futon?" **

"**She took it." Armin sheepishly answered. Mikasa wrapped herself with a futon in the corner while Sasha munched on a potato.**

"Hey, the potato's back." Ymir smirked, "Seems like the potato trend is still steady."

Sasha whined, "When will you guys forget about the potato jokes? It literally happened _years_ ago!"

"Oh, we will never forget it that easily, _Potato Girl._"

"**Fantastic. Girl's gotten worse." Jean deadpanned.**

"**Sorry, we have no idea what else to do. And oh, looks like Annie's team is up."**

**Jean commented, "Whoever wins this match will be our next opponent."**

**Hannes shouted, "Okay! Let's begin!"**

**Christa was immediately hit by a ball as it bounced off. "Christa! No!"**

Historia frowned. It is true that in order to keep up with her Christa personality, she has to appear a little weak, meek and a nice person, but Historia has never liked the 'damsel in distress' situations that come along with it. Seeing herself so...delicate like that in contrast to acting it was so different.

**Reiner tried to jump up and catch the ball to save his crush but he was intercepted by Ymir. She tripped him and effortlessly caught the ball, smirking smugly, "She's perfectly safe, thanks!"**

'_Good job, TV-me.'_ Ymir smiled in satisfaction.

"**How can I ever repay you?!"**

"**How about when this craps' over and done with you marry me?!" Ymir hugged Christa as Reiner glared at her with a bruised face. **

**Annie stared at the trio, wondering how are they doing before looking over to Jean's team thus becoming distracted enough that Ihoka aimed the ball at her, "Enough of this!"**

"**Annie! Look out!" Christa warned.**

**Right as the ball was heading straight for the stoic girl, Bertolt jumped out and got smacked directly in the face instead. **

"What's his deal?" Levi questioned.

At this, the recruits sported a pure Cheshire grin on their face. Sasha grinned, "'Cause Bertolt like Annie, like, _a lot!"_

"Totally!" Jean cackled, "That guy stared at Annie so much that I'm surprised she didn't smack him for it already! I mean—it's so obvious!"

Armin pointed out, "You stare at Mikasa, too."

Jean wisely ignored that remark and turned away with a blush, but by doing that he caught his superiors' subtle nods to each other.

'_Huh. What was that about?' _Jean wondered.

**Finally catching her surroundings, she jumped up and grab the ball before taking out three people from the opposite team much to Jean and Armin's amazement.**

**Thomas caught the ball and threw it to Reiner. The bulky boy took hold of the pink ball and eliminate the rest of the opposite team. The whistle blew out. "Game over! Class 4 team B wins!"**

"That's Reiner for you! Such a reliable guy!" Eren nodded happily.

**Marco, Armin, and Jean stood, stunned before they screamed. Armin whispered, "We...we don't stand a chance."**

"**It's as if they are a hive mind," Marco observed grimly.**

"**Well duh, it's what team plays' all about. Every members are in tune with each other…" Jean shouted the last part, "And most importantly they don't eat ramen in the middle of a match!"**

"And they don't eat a baked potato during the very first day of training." Mikasa deadpanned, causing some to giggles and Sasha to splutter.

**Annie confronted the team, "Where's the chee-burg bastard? He'd better crawl out from whatever rock he's under before our match starts….or else I'm telling Instructor Keith on you."**

**She glared menacingly before leaving. Jean fell onto his knee, "That's it...no way around it anymore. We're going to be five-star Titan chow…"**

"**Come on Eren...help us out here…" Armin pleaded, "JUST WAKE UP ALREADY!"**

"I just have a random thought," Jean started, "Will Eren be late to something in the future?"

Eren bit back, "Are you just trying to pin everything on me now, Jean? Because I—"

"I'm dead serious, Eren." Jean glared. "You are 'Humanity's Hope' now. What if you show up late when the Titans break down the Wall again? We have to consider every possibility that can happen based on the information on this screen here."

"He's right," Erwin nodded. "Hange, please write that down."

Petra frowned a little. She did offer to help with taking notes since she thought that Hange wouldn't be able to handle it all, but the woman seems to be taking it all in strides, adding her own scientific conclusions and hypothesis and experiments on the side while Petra's notebook is filled with basic observations. Furthermore, the Commander never asked for her to write it down instead of Hange, even though the Squad Leader was busy.

She wondered if he didn't trust her for a brief moment, then dismiss it as foolish thinking and continue writing.

**Elsewhere, Eren held the alarm clock which pointed to 11:55 A.M. The corner of his mouth twitched violently, "GOD DAMN IT!"**

**Back at school, Hannes announced, "Lunch time! Eats up, boys and girls!"**

"**Um...hey Annie?" Christa went up to Annie's desk and hesitantly asked the other blonde, "I was wondering if you would mind me asking...but are you **_**really**_ **into mozuku?"**

"**Uh, yeah. I love it." Annie twitched, **'_**Why does she want to know? Is she baiting me into admitting the truth?'**_

"**I was hoping you'd say that!" Christa held out her lunch box, "I happen to have some for lunch today, but I think it's gross. I was sort of thinking maybe you'd take it so it wouldn't go to waste, you know?"**

"Is it that gross?" Eld wondered.

Gunther said thoughtfully before standing up, "We can test it out if you want."

Walking to the fridge, Gunther said aloud, "A bowl of 'seaweed', please."

Erwin once again paused the episode as some recruits wander to the two men, clearly interested. Gunther took out a small bowl of saltwater with green, slimy strips that almost look alive.

"Ew…" Eren made a face. "Is that even edible?"

"Who knows. Maybe it doesn't taste as bad as it looks…." Eld popped one strand into his mouth, "...or not. This thing's slimy and disgusting!"

He immediately took off to the bathroom and everyone else stared at the bowl as if it was made up of poison.

Erwin raise an eyebrow, "If we can get back to the episode?"

"**For a second there I thought…" Annie trailed off, "You know what? Sure."**

"**Annie!" Reiner, Ymir, Thomas, Bertolt and Mina all came up with their lunchboxes and smiled sheepishly, "While you are at it would you mind eating mine too?"**

"**And mine."**

"**Mine too."**

"**I hate this stuff so—"**

**Bertolt never got to the end as Annie snapped, "What's wrong with you people?! Seaweed tastes good!"**

"She's crazy," Eld said weakly, wiping his mouth furiously as he exits the bathroom.

Levi reminded, "Remember to wash your hands three time with boiled soap."

**Jean was seen slumping on the side of the wall, "We're in big trouble...it's only a matter of time before we are eaten, trust me. Argh, why couldn't I've done more with my life if I'd known it was just gonna end up like this—"**

"**I've got a plan!" Jean looked up to Armin's confident face.**

**An Eren wig was slapped onto Jean's head.**

"_PPPFFFHTTTTT—"_

The recruits choked on their spits and roared with rolling laughter. All except Jean and Eren, of course. Mikasa was also exempted, but she showed amusement her own way.

"I look _nothing_ like the Suicidal Bastard/Horse-face!"

Sasha giggled, "It's so obvious, how could we not have seen it before!"

"Armin, you genius!" Connie guffawed.

"On a more serious note," Hange smiled, "If things go south, we can try this method to sneak Eren out—heck; I'm pretty sure that this is one of the future we are supposed to find!"

"Really?!" Christa gasped. "That's amazing!"

Jean looked put-out, grimaced and finally relented, "...if worse comes to worst, then I suppose I have no choice..."

"I don't like this any more than you do." Eren sulked, but he does feel a little worry for Jean. If Jean will be his substitute in the future, then wouldn't it mean his life will be in danger?

**Marco breathed out, "Amazing!"**

"**You looked perfect!"**

"**You all are out of your damn mind! I don't look anything like Eren!" Jean voiced out his thoughts angrily.**

"**Actually, your physiques are very similar. You both have the shifty eyes of the classic bad guys!" Armin analyzed.**

The both of them glowered menacingly, but none dared to blow up at Armin.

"**Say that again, blondie!"**

**Sasha complimented, "I think the two of you look so much alike it might even manage to pull Mikasa out of her weird mood swings—"**

"**It won't." Mikasa whispered with conviction, "I can't feel his spirits."**

'_I really, _really _hope she can't do that.' _Eren sneak a glance at Mikasa warily.

Sensing his line of thought, Mikasa assured him, "I can tell the difference between you and anyone who attempts to pretend to be you by smell, but I can't sense your spirit."

'_That's even creepier!'_

**Everyone sweatdropped, "Okay...that doesn't sound like a crazy person at all."**

"**Pardon the intrusion." Annie interrupted again, this time with Reiner and Bertolt behind her. "It's almost time for us to get this match underway. Chee-burg bastard better be here."**

"**Don't you worry about it!" Sasha pushed the disguised Jean forward despite his protests, "Eren's right here!"**

"_**Huh. Should their name be EreJean or JeanEre—oh shit wait those are ship names. Forget I said anything, people!" **_**Kuro hastily amended.**

"'Ship name'?" Petra echoed. "A new definition, it seems."

**Annie squinted, "Wait a second, something isn't right; when did you get horse-faced?"**

"It's also an obvious difference we have to account for." Armin nodded, trying his best to ignore Jean's upset aura.

**Jean leaned back in fear before Annie asked him, "What's your favorite thing to eat for lunch?"**

"**Uh...omurice?" He hesitantly answered.**

**Armin screeched as Jean realized his mistake, "Dammit!"**

"**CHEE-BURG!" Mikasa's eyes shot wide open as everyone looked up to see Eren there, panting, "Sorry guys; I overslept."**

**Jean glared up at his rival, "Cutting it kinda close there—"**

"**Get out of the way!" Mikasa pushed him aside to run up to Eren and threw Armin's futon away as the boy chased after it. **

Jean's face soured, '_Lucky bastard.'_

Mikasa doesn't have her own opinion of Jean's _very_ obvious crush, but even she felt that it was really mean of her TV-self to act like that, but she couldn't bring herself to say sorry. It wasn't her doing, after all, and frankly, she can understand her TV-self's relief after seeing Eren.

"**Mikasa, now that I'm here everything's gonna be okay—huh?"**

**The raven-haired girl stretched his face and pushed her face close to him with a threatening look, "Tardiness is a **_**very**_ **bad habit."**

_**Kuro interrupted, "This one's not very obvious, so I'll tell you it straight. This happens—not the cheek-pulling, mind you—during the Colossal and Armor Titan's chase." **_

Everyone immediately straightens up.

"Okay, that is valuable information." Levi addressed, "Now we know that at least Ackerman will be involved."

Armin continued, "From the image on the screen, I think we can deduce that she will get up close and personal with them, possibly using 3DMG gear, and stare at them in the face."

'_The 57th Expedition is going to be a success.' _Erwin confidently thought, '_We successfully lured both the Colossal and the Armored Titan out. Eren and Squad Levi can take care of them, and the rumor I've heard about Ackerman isn't bad, either. We can do this.'_

"I'll definitely kick its ass for all of the trouble it'd caused us." A murderous Oluo stated. "We _will_ take back Wall Maria at all cost."

The Special Operation Squad silently agreed.

Sasha fidgeted, "Mikasa was there, so it should happen during our lifetime because I can't really imagine Mikasa dying before us. Do you think we will live to see it through the end?"

"Don't speak bullshit like that." Connie insisted, "We'll be fine. We will kill it dead before it can kill us."

'_So Bertolt and Reiner's capture will be soon.'_ Ymir analyzed, '_But there's still Annie, and these people don't know about her yet. She'd joined the Military Police, and I am 90% sure that she will act during this upcoming expedition. Bertolt and Reiner will not transform unless necessary, so this will probably happen at a later date. How annoying. At least I can protect Christa if it comes to worse.'_

"**Yes, ma'am…"**

**Annie spoke up, "Glad you decided to show up, Chee-burg, prepare yourself to be squash flat!"**

"**Bring it on, Annie! This team's not afraid of you!"**

**Hannes announced, "Time for the championship match! Right, Class 4 Team A will go head to head with Class 4 Team B! Is everybody ready?"**

**The two teams glared at each other with determined expressions. Hannes take a look at the teens before throwing the pink ball into the air, "And begin!"**

**Naturally with a height advantage, Bertolt reached the ball and smacked it over to his team as Annie stole from Reiner and charge ahead, aiming directly at Jean. Eren yelled as he ran up, "This one's mine!"**

**The ball bounced off his face and Mikasa has to jump up and grab it, "Eren's safe!"**

"Loser." Jean taunted but was surprised when Eren did not respond with something nasty.

'_When I find it, I will tear off its flesh with my own teeth!' _Eren envisioned, '_Gouge its eyes out, snap every bone of its body, slice its arms off, cut its leg open, torture it in the worst ways possible before going for the nape! I will make it regret ever walking the ground for kicking down the Walls!"_

"**Wow! She's so agile!" Jean exclaimed.**

**Armin nodded, "Yeah, quite the difference, huh? Glad Eren showed up."**

"**I'm just getting started!" Eren charged to the ball that was aimed for Armin, but the boy crouched down to duck it at the last minute so the ball slammed into Eren's face before bouncing off. Mikasa also caught the ball, "Eren's safe!"**

**From that point on, Eren would keep trying to get the ball, fail miserably and Mikasa would have to catch the ball every single time. She declared, "Whoever comes at Eren deals with me. I don't care what they try to throw at us!"**

Not wanting Eren to overhear, Eld whispered to Petra, "Maybe write down 'Mikasa bailing Eren out from failed missions'. It might come in handy."

"Will do."

**Both teams stared in a mix of horror, deadpanned, and what-the-fuck-is-going-on expressions at the massacre unfolding before them. **

"Even Sasha's stopped eating." Eld noted.

'_Not the superiors, too!'_

**Marco noted with a scared expression, "Eren keeps getting blasted but he can't get out; Mikasa's catching all the rebounds!"**

**Jean spoke slowly, "This is painful."**

**The ball bounces off of Jean's head, "Oh, Jean's out."**

Jean looks annoyed, '_That's just pitiful.'_

**Hannes yawned as the ball whizzed past him a few more time before knocking him off his feet. By now, only Mikasa, Eren and Annie are still standing. An injured Eren slowly pick up the ball before shaking his bumps and black-eyes away and yelled with determination, "I will end this in one throw!"**

"How does he shakes his injuries off so fast? Furthermore, how did he gained such injuries from being hit by a ball?" The scientist in Hange wondered, then she looked over to Eren, "Maybe I should test—"

"Absolutely _not_." Mikasa said with finality.

**Annie slipped into her signature fighting pose, "Do it. Let's see what you've got."**

**Eren threw the ball as hard as he could and Annie kicked it away. The ball sent Eren flying, "Well, that was some serious skills."**

Now out of his murderous spree, Eren commented, "This is just like the first time she defeated me."

"**It's a special technique," Annie stared down at her opponent, "If you want, I'd be happy to teach you."**

"**No thanks. Dodgeball hurts."**

**Annie narrowed her eyes, "Are you kidding me? Stop trying to be so damn modest."**

**The pink ball bounced menacingly in the air as Mikasa approached the duo with a threatening look in her eyes, "Hey Annie."**

**Said blonde immediately narrowed her eyes, assessing the threat, "I want to learn your technique." Mikasa's eyes flashed, "Teach **_**me**_**."**

"Uh oh." Sasha whispered, "I think I know what this is."

**Annie stared back with steely looks of her own. "Not so sure about that. The whole thing only works with human beings."**

"**Uh oh. Epic match alert." Sasha commented **

**Jean leaned up in anticipation, "Hell yeah! Double or nothing Mikasa kicks Annie's butt."**

Christa reminded them, "Mikasa and Annie never fought in the end so we shouldn't expect much."

"Aw!"

**Christa said excitedly, "I bet my strawberries!"**

"**Cool. I bet my herrings." Ymir smirked.**

**Reiner crosses his arms with an interested look, "I'll bet my meatballs."**

'_Why herrings?' _Ymir frowned thoughtfully, '_Christa like strawberries, and Reiner like meatballs. I don't even like herrings that much. Is there some deeper meaning behind it? Or maybe I'm just overthinking things.'_

Ymir filed that information to the back of her mind and focus on the TV.

"**I'm in!"**

**Annie stared at Mikasa challengingly, "Let's do it. Come at me with all you've got."**

**Mikasa did exactly that just before she could slam the ball at Annie's feet, Eren jumped up and got squashed between the ball and Annie's feet. He spun upwards before landing with a crash on the floor. Mikasa cried, "Eren!" **

**Eren looked up, "Annie...why do you hate me so much?"**

**Annie looked the other way, clearly conflicted. "It's not like I've ever done anything to you."**

"**Huh. You really want to know?" Eren's determined green eyes told her the expected answer. "Pay attention because I'm only going to say this once."**

**Eren sat up and listened carefully, "At the entrance ceremony, you told everyone you love cheese hamburg steak, and without even realizing it you basically stole my thunder." The crowd stared at the girl and her explanations with dumbfounded looks on their faces, "It was my favorite first, I should have been the one to blurt it out! So naturally, I hate your chee-burg guts!"**

"It's so weird hearing Annie's voice speaking." Armin commented, "She's so mature and thoughtful that such childish notions are completely out of place."

Christa continued, "I know, right? I can't even imagine Annie of all people getting worked up over not being able to share her favorite dish if she even have one."

"**I don't get it. Couldn't you just say 'me too'?"**

**Annie made a surprised sound as Eren offered a hand up, "Look. I'm really sorry but when you get right down to it though, we have something in common."**

**Annie smiled softly and took his hand. "I suppose we do."**

"That was way too fast." Most of the people in the room deadpanned.

"**That's sweet! Yay friends!" Christa began clapping, prompting the others to do the same thing as Ymir gave her fellow classmates weirded out looks before deadpanning. "This is absolute bullshit."**

**Hannes groggily sat up, "Wait. What's going on?"**

**The ball knocked Annie on the head as all movements immediately ceased. Connie cheered, "I get it now! Dodgeball! I totally just tapped her out, right? Right?"**

"Work on your timing skills, Connie." Sasha teased.

Connie spluttered, "That's not me!"

"I know. I was joking around."

"**Technically, you did. Game over. Congratulation!" Hannes blew the whistle.**

**The scene changes to Eren, Mikasa, and Armin having lunch in the school yard. "Let's dig in!"**

"**Alright, my favorite!" Eren held up a chee-burg excitedly and prepare to bite down before it fell flatly on to the grass. "This isn't happening! That was my chee-burg **_**FOR THE DAY!"**_

Eren frowned. Is this screen implying that his goals are as feeble and stupid as his TV self? No, that can't be right. He wants to avenge his mother's death by eliminating all the Titans for the good of humanity, not for a chee-burg. TV-Eren is the unbelievable one here, not him.

**He tried to sneakily grab it but Mikasa blandly stated, "No three-second rule."**

"_**Vetoed."**_ **Kuro firmly addressed with humor.**

"**Mind if I join you guys?" Annie walked up to the ground and asked.**

"**Sure! No problem!"**

**Annie looked at the meat patty on the grass, "Is that…?"**

"**Yeah." Eren looked down sullenly, "That was supposed to be the best part of the day but now…"**

**Annie held out her half of the chee-burg from her lunchbox, "We'll share."**

"Bet the brat wouldn't even thought of it should he be in her place." Oluo grumbled.

"**No way really?! Thank you!" Eren grin excitedly and quickly accepts the offer. He took a large bite and shook his head in absolute bliss, "Best chee-burg evah! That was really nice of you!"**

"**Whatever," Annie looked to the side, "In return though, let's agree to..uh...forget what I tried to—"**

**Mikasa stuffed a whole fish into Eren's mouth, "Eat this. You are not getting enough fish in your diet!"**

"**Woah, Mikasa stop it! I'm not your little brother or some snot-nosed toddler!"**

This, Eren wholeheartedly agreed.

Mikasa, on the other hand, frowned. She doesn't get why Eren would always be so difficult; all she wanted to do was to take care of him, and he would always push her away while going to the likes of _Annie_, who mistreat him all the time.

"**Eat it! I'm not about to let you get malnourished!"**

**Annie held out another piece, "Here, have another one."**

"**Really?" Eren held out his lunch box to grab the chee-burg before Mikasa pulled him back, "Hey, you should also eat your vegetables!"**

"**Here, you can have it."**

**Armin sweatdropped at the scene before him, "Quite the 180...I see a love triangle." **

"ARMIN!" The two adopted siblings screeched in embarrassment.

The blond squeaked in surprise. "I'm sorry!"

\V/

"I think we should tell everyone about the true purpose of the 57th Expedition and the fact that the Colossal Titan and Armored Titan can be a titan shifter." Hange proposed to Erwin and Levi while everyone else was distracted with discussing the episode.

Erwin frowned, "Why do you think so, Hange? The fewer people who know, the better."

"Kuro didn't transport Bertolt Hoover, Reiner Braun, or Annie Leonhart to this room with us. And they are under heavy suspicion right now. Leonhart can get a pass for not being from the Survey Corp since Kuro did state such, but the other two are clearly suspicious. Eren is obviously not a traitor along with his two friends. The rest of the recruits are debatable, though."

Levi asked thoughtfully, "What about my squad?"

"Same old status. Though if you want to apply the logic that since Kuro transported them here, they are not traitors then yes, technically they are safe."

The three veteran processed that for a while, before Erwin put his foot down, "It's still too early for us to discuss the nature of the 57th expedition, but you are right; we should at least tell everyone that the two Titans are human in disguises so they will know what they are dealing with."

Levi tapped his biceps, "What will you do if there really is a spy amongst them."

"It shouldn't matter if there really is a spy amongst them; it shouldn't matter. Everyone knows that Eren can turn into a Titan, so it wouldn't be too great of a leap for us to deduce that humans can transform into Titans." Hange nodded thoughtfully.

Standing up, Erwin faced everyone, "Attention, soldiers!"

Everyone immediately ceased chatting and snapped into salutes.

"We have something to tell you...and it has something to do with the Colossal and Armored Titan."

* * *

**Thanks for the four people who reviewed the last chapter and I'm glad that you are liking it so far. This is a few days late from when I planned to update, but real life gets in the way so yeah (Originally, I planned to update tomorrow but I decided that I might as well finish it tonight). And no, I don't mind long reviews at all, just like how I don't mind long A/N since it gives me some insights into the author's life and possible update schedule so I don't have to wait as long. Since you took your precious time to type out a detailed review, I shall return the same courtesy!**

**Eren is an absolute pain in the ass to write since he and I are completely polar opposite. Whereas he has a fiery attitude and strong sense of justice, I am pretty laid back and uncaring in general, so I have absolutely zero clues what to write for his various disdainful reactions to TV-Eren. And even if he has a violent reaction, I think he knows better than to start punching tables in a small room with his superiors, in an unknown situation no matter how much he really wants to, but most of Eren's OOC is because of me not knowing what to do with him.**

**Erwin's easier. He seems less intelligent than in the main series since I'm less intelligent than Isayama-sensei lol. A chain is only as strong as its weakest link, after all.**

**The Cheese Hamburg scene does feel forceful, but by the logic of parodies, suddenly it all makes sense XD. Sorry if I feel that it's really OOC, but I feel like something funny should happen to blow away the heavy atmosphere, ya know.**

**For Eren saying that Levi's cool, this one I really thought about and was really hesitant to add in because of the reasons you stated, but my reasonings were something like this. The traffickers were strangers and he was a child. At this point in time, Levi had saved Eren twice (at Trost and the spoon experiment), helped him from getting dissected by the Military Police and Eren admired him as 'Humanity's Strongest Soldier', so I think that Eren came to trust Levi, so subconsciously he knew that AoT Levi wouldn't do anything bad though that is an extremely baseless assumption. That's my reasoning for why I portrayed Eren not too worried over Levi stealing Armin's futon.**

**I never thought about Levi commenting that using fans are ineffective lol.**

**I'm not too sure, but let's just assume that Erwin spoke aloud for the benefit of the group, Petra, and Hange to follow along his line of reasoning to either write down or if they want to catch something important in each episode.**

**Petra was only joking about wanting Oluo to bite his tongue. We all have that one friend who is a total tsundere about their feeling XD.**

**About the extra reacting episode, I'm thinking of doing at least one if I still have the patience, and the extra reacting chapter is something that I think nobody's ever done before, so no clue on how people are going to react to that. Who knows? Maybe I'll wake up one day and people will demand to burn my house down XD.**

**In the anime, I'm pretty sure that everyone doesn't catch on to Bertolt crushing on Annie (and even _that's_ debatable) but for the sake of this story, just assume that everyone caught on except Bertolt himself.**

**How was the chapter? Please leave a review; they are the very life force of fanfic authors around the world~**


	4. Clean Up! Titan Junior High

**Disclaimer:** I don't own Attack on Titan Junior High

* * *

"_What do you mean, Erwin was turned into a horse?!" Nile squawked, pointing at the grinning white horse, who somehow got into the palace uninterrupted, incredulously while glaring at Mike in the mustache._

"_Uh no…" Mike Zacharias mumbled, "I said I mistook him for a horse at first, not that the Commander was turned into a horse…"_

"_Then at least make that clear!" Nile snapped angrily, "...and now that I think of it, you shouldn't even add what _you _think in a professional report to your _superiors_!"_

_Mike sniffed, "You were the one who told me to give a thorough report, _sir."

"_Excuse me?!"_

"_...so after we leave orders to reorganize the troops, we immediately head to the capital of Mitras to report to his majesty—" said 'king' was currently staring blankly ahead, but to those who knew him well, he was slowly dozing off, "—since it is impossible to continue the mission without our Commander." Nanaba continued her report as if nothing happened, ignoring Mike and Nile causing a scene._

"_Are you saying...your commander, Humanity's Strongest Soldier and his squad, that crazy scientist, and the Titan brat's gone? In a goddamn puff of smoke, even?!" One of the noble demanded hotly. "And apparently by some Kuro asshole? How is this even possible?!"_

"_Another bottle, please!" Pixis breathed out weakly, form sloping on the table._

_Anka whacked him on the head, "Commander! This is a serious problem!"_

_Pixis' eyes glinted, "It is a serious problem indeed...We need to fix this right away, so Anka, get me another bottle so I can concentrate."_

_The bald commander said in an unusually serious voice and the assistant gasped. 'About damn time!'_

_Gustav handed him another bottle of liquor, "Here, sir. How do you propose we go about this problem?"_

"_Hah? What problem are cha talkin' about?" Commander Pixis chugged down the bottle in one gulp, "The booze's here, so there's no more problem. See?"_

_Anka slapped her forehead, 'Of _fucking _course, why would I expect anything else?!'_

"_THE TITAN BRAT IS GONE, CHEERS!" One of the high-ranking Wallist held up his mug and a fistful of cookies shouted. "LONG LIVE THE WALLS!"_

"_HIP HIP HOORAY!" His fellow Wallists also mimic the actions and yelled, "TO OUR GODDESSES! MARIA! ROSE! SINA! KANPAI!"_

"_Keep it down, fools!" The General of all Three Military Branches, Darius Zackly, finally lost it and reprimanded the Wallists _and _several other Nobles who had deemed it fit to join in in a stern voice. _

_Currently, there are about fifty-something people present—King Fritz had called them to the capital of Mitras for the annual reports on district management and the likes when Mike and Nanaba broke in, dragging countless soldiers who tried to stop them behind. The King, agitated by the Squad Leader's action, immediately demanded him to tell his reasons for 'interrupting an important meeting' that totally wasn't an excuse for the rich fools to get together and brag their ass off. Had the useless piece of flesh who called himself king stopped for a few seconds and used his brain, then the big news of the Survey Corps' elites went missing in a poof of smoke wouldn't cause such a commotion. In a tiny chamber. With fifty-something retards. And most importantly, no way of escaping this mess._

_Currently, the nobles were at each other's throats, yelling obscenities about taking control of the Survey Corp and appointing a new Commander since Erwin is nowhere to be found, disbanding the Corp, throwing a party, and causing a mess in general. A whopping total of three people were seriously listening to Nanaba's report, not including Zackly himself._

'_This day can't get any worse….' The man face-palmed in irritation._

"_WE HAVE A PROBLEM!" A soldier pushed through the chamber, breathing heavily while somehow still found the strength to blast through everyone else's eardrums and gaining their attention._

"_How dare you, barging into here without permission!" The pseudo-king roared, "If you don't speak your reasons right now I shall execute you!"_

'_...and of course, the guy still hasn't learned his lesson…' Zackly felt the migraine returned with fervor._

"_I apologize, your majesty!" The poor soldier squeaked in terror. "Er-um...we have a problem, sir—"_

"_Duh, no shit, Sherlock!" Pastor Nick mumbled._

"—_we've spotted a 14-meter class titan outside Wall Rose near Karanes District—"_

"_You dared to interrupt our conversation for a _measly _Titan?!" Lord Wald slammed his hands on the table and angrily demanded, getting nods from his fellow noble chess friends. "You, what's your name—?"_

"_At least let him finish, Lord Wald." Rod Reiss calmly sipped his wine from a glass cup. "Depending on what he says, we can think of different ways to send him to the other side."_

"_B-but sir," The poor soldiers whimpered, "I-It's got _boobs_..."_

_In all of a sudden, Pixis immediately stopped drinking from his bottle and his ears automatically drowned out Anka's reprimands and only focus on the soldiers' voice. 'It can't be…'_

_Kenny Ackerman, who for some reason was present in the meeting despite not being a noble, grunted, "Hah? What has what now?" _

"_A FEMALE TITAN HAS APPEARED OUTSIDE OF KARANES DISTRICT, SIR!"_

_Dot Pixis was gone from his seat._

* * *

"Goddammit…" The governor of the Shingeki no Kyojin world crushed the can of soda she's holding in one hand and snarled.

"_YO, Shiro! Enjoying the show?"_

A _very_ familiar, _very_ irritating, and _very _unwelcomed voice piped up from the innocent phone sitting on her table as the girl grasped it with crushing strength and screamed, "There you are you thrice-damned piece of—wait, who's Shiro?"

"_Well, you, duh! I go by Kuro now, so it'd totally make sense if I start calling you Shiro, eh?"_

"THE HELL IT DOES!" The now dubbed 'Shiro' roared, "YOU BETTER EXPLAIN WHY YOU ARE MESSING WITH _MY_ WORLD RIGHT THIS INSTANT OR OTHERWISE I'M GOING TO _PULVERIZE_ YOU!"

"_I see, then let me tell you a story…"_ Kuro spoke in a somber tone that even got Shiro to do a double-take, "_It may seem irrelevant at first, but after listening to this, you will know the reason why I decided to do what I did…"_

'_Finally she's serious, let's just hope this isn't something bad.' _Shiro mentally sighed in relief, "Speak. I'm waiting."

"'_Kay. Have you ever heard about the tale of Cinderella?"_

* * *

"We have something to tell you...and it has something to do with the Colossal and Armored Titan."

Hange repeated Erwin's words with closed eyes for dramatic effects. '_And 3...2...1...open!', _"Indeed, we have something to tell you—wait, why are you guys already eating?! That's not fair!"

"Sorry, Hange-san." Petra smiled sheepishly, "The recruits were eager and you guys were talking for quite a while so…"

"What are you, _dogs_?" Levi sneered. "And what is with that thing?"

"They are called honey toast, captain." Eld explained, "By the looks of it, you take half a loaf of square bread and take the filling out, caramelized the outside, and put... stuff in it."

"It's a little, sweet, but it's delicious." Jean nodded sagely. "What's this cold thing again?"

"It's ice cream." Christa flipped the pages over and read out loud. "There's also soft cream and a variety of fruits on top along with honey! Also, they come in six different flavors. I don't know what chocolate is, but it tastes really good!"

"This ice cream is so nice," Eren sighed in bliss with a scoopful of chocolate ice cream in his mouth. "If the 'lands of ice' is full of this 'ice cream' stuff, I think I might move there once we kill all the Titans…"

"I know, right!" Armin smiled. "Imagine us three building a house made of ice cream…take ice cream bath...sleep on ice cream beds...fishing ice cream…"

"I thought the 'lands of ice' are supposed to be full of ice and snow?" Mikasa blandly interjected, knocking the boys out of their wishful fantasies.

Erwin brought the attention back to himself with a short cough, "Even though the honey toast looks delicious, we need to get back to the important matter at hand."

'_Seriously….?'_ Levi inwardly sighed. '_Has Erwin always been this stupid?'_

"Oh yeah!" Connie whisper-shouted. "You said you were going to tell us something about the Colossal and Armored Titan!"

"Correct, Springer." Connie beamed. "As you have already known, the Colossal Titan suddenly appeared at Trost district and smash through the gate, sending numerous Titans into the vicinity before completely disappearing without a trace. It is also where," Erwin nodded in Eren's direction, "we discovered that Eren Yeager is a Titan Shifter. He transformed into a Titan and plugged the hole in the wall, sealing Trost District for good."

The Commander paused, letting the information sink in. "Has anyone realize what is amiss?"

"Was it something we supposed to know?" Oluo hushed.

Gunther replied, "Uh...maybe?"

Seeing his soldiers whispering among themselves with no answers being given, Erwin continued, "Where do you think...the Armored Titan is during all this?"

As realization dawned, Captain Levi smirked at the recruits' staggered expressions, '_Took them long enough.'_

"That's right." Jean spoke up, "Where was the Armored Bastard during all this? Surely after the Trost District's gate was broken, it should've gone for the inner gate, just like how it happened at Shiganshina!"

'_How could I not have picked it up?' _Armin berated himself in frustration, '_No, this is not the time. _Think_. What is the commander getting at here?'_

"That day…" Eren snarled, "As all the refugees were boarding the ship, the Armored Titan crashes through the inner gate. During Trost, even though we were delayed by the Titans surrounding the headquarters or the lack of help from the Survey Corp, the Armored Titan _wasn't there_."

"What if they aren't working together after all?" Sasha nervously asked, but even she knew that it's impossible. No one replied to her only further corrected her theory.

Hange stepped up, "So we have come to a conclusion: Eren's transformation into a Titan was completely unprecedented, and obviously wasn't part of their plan, and therefore he was the one who stopped the Armored Titan from transforming and breaking Wall Rose's gate."

"And that led us to the next conclusion. If the Titan can see or hear about Eren's transformation into a Titan…" Erwin slowly opened his eyes, "Then it is very likely that the two Titans have intelligence, and are disguising themselves as human."

Gasps can be heard around the room.

"The Colossal and Armored Titans….are human?!" Oluo looked over to his side, ready to join in on the eventual laughter with everyone because _surely_ this cannot be real.

So he was definitely surprised when Eld quietly spoke, "Make sense when you think about it. Eren can turn into an intelligent Titan that is different from the others. The Colossal and Armored should be the same."

"What's worse…" Mikasa added on, unknowingly continuing her superior's line of thought, "is that they can blend in with the humans, act like humans, train with humans, and _learn all our secrets_."

Seeing everyone's stricken faces, Erwin decided that it's best to calm them down before they completely fly off the handle. "Hange, if you will."

"And for my dear Sonny and Bean…." Hange sniffed, and screamed, "I SWEAR I'LL FIND THE BASTARDS WHO TOOK MY BABIES—"

Levi tugged on her ponytail several times before pulling her ear down to his eye level, "Enough is enough, Four-Eyes."

"...he probably pulled her down cuz he's not tall enough to whack her on the head," Connie mumbled to Sasha, who giggled.

"Fine, geez." Hange grumbled, "Whoever killed Sonny and Bean, they must have the maneuver gear since only iron bamboo can deal damages to the Titans, so that's why we have your gears checked. However, we also did a little experiment on our own. On the night of the ceremony where you have to choose a military branch to join, we have the Levi squad plus Eren going out on patrol. _Just them alone_. Now, ladies and gentlemen, what could this mean?"

"Oi, is that true, Eren?" Jean turned to his rival and demanded.

The Titan Shifter nodded, "It's true. We were on patrol that night and I get to know everyone better."

'_Eren was on patrol on the night of the ceremony...a soldier who killed the two Titans…The Colossal and Armored Titan can be humans….the only explanation for this would be—'_ Armin's thoughts screeched to a halt as he finally spoke up, "You….You think that the traitor is amongst the 104th Trainee Corp?"

"Ding ding ding! And someone gets it! Your prize is 'free info from the Survey Corp'." Hange made the motion of ringing a bell in satisfaction.

"_WHAT_?!" Eren roared. "Armin! How can you say that?! They are the people who trained along with us for three years! _Three years_! How can you—"

Mikasa held Eren back and said, "Calm down, Eren. We don't even know if Armin is talking about our class or not. There are other divisions of the 104th—"

"No, Mikasa. That can't be." Jean interjected, looking shaken. "The 104th South Division is the _only_ division who participated in the invasion of Trost, so the traitor has to be one of us. The bastard needs to _see_, or at least heard that Eren transformed into a Titan, or otherwise they would've stormed Wall Rose."

"B-But Armin, how did you even come to that conclusion?!" Historia was really curious; she was supposed to be the master at disguising her emotions and putting up a façade, but there are supposedly two people in her class who does that everyday and _she didn't even notice?_

"The Commander said that the Colossal and Armored Titans can be humans, which most likely means they are soldiers, since the Colossal Titan disappeared right after, right Eren?" Armin looked at his best friend.

Eren, after all, who the one and only person who went up against it directly. "That's not gonna prove anything!"

"I know. It would be impossible to escape quickly without the gear, and they have to be people who participated in the invasion of Trost." Armin put another finger up, "So that narrows down the suspects a lot. Next, the Commander sent Eren out as bait for whoever wants to kidnap or kill him, while staying behind at the ceremony himself. Whoever is absent at the ceremony will draw a lot of attention to themselves, so it's either that they can't leave to kidnap Eren, or they didn't plan to do that at all. And our class is the only class at that ceremony."

'_This one's smart…'_ Erwin smiled, "As a matter of fact, only some of my most trusted subordinates or present at the ceremony; all soldiers from the Survey Corp are technically free to do what they want that night. And you can clearly see, Eren is still alive and well."

"You used Eren as _bait?!"_ Mikasa growled.

'_That's what you chose to focus on?!' _The recruits mentally deadpanned.

"It was necessary," Erwin stated firmly, taking a bite out of the strawberry honey toast. "Also, this is quite delicious."

"Do you have any suspects in mind yet, Commander?" Ymir warily asked. They were completely correct to doubt the 104th trainee class, but she wouldn't have thought that they'd narrow it down so quick. '_Reiner and Bertolt….those idiots!'_

Levi's eyes slid over to another one of their primary suspects and calmly replied, "We have a few people here and there, but nothing concrete yet."

"That's all we have for now." Erwin nodded to the recruits. "We will discuss further if we have time. Now, let's watch episode 4, shall we?"

Finally snapping out of their bewilderment, everyone hastily took their plate of toast and went back to their own seat.

"Who would've thought that the _trainees_ would be one of the suspects…" Oluo mumbled.

Eld nodded as he settled down, "I know, right? This class's probably cursed or something. Petra, what's wrong? You've been pretty quiet."

Startled out of her thoughts, Petra mumbled, "Um, it's nothing, er...I was just wondering…."

"...yes?" Gunther leaned forward in anticipation.

"Do you think..._we_ are under suspicion, too?" Petra whispered fearfully. Once she got the hard part out of the way, all of her previous concerns and worries carry themselves along, "I mean—when I think about it, we didn't practice any formation with Eren's Titan form, even if they are just trial runs, and I feel like the Commander and some of our superiors are hiding _something_. Something _big._ Something _important._ It's—_look_, I can't explain it well, but I think that something is _wrong._"

"Even if you put it like that..." Eld sighed deeply. "It's not like we can do anything about it."

"He's right," Oluo said with determination shining in his eyes. "We are the Special Operation Squad, and we respond to orders coming straight from Captain Levi. We have to do all we can to protect him, and Captain will do the same for us. That's all I need to know."

Everyone was stunned silent by his claim before Gunther chuckled.

"Wow, Oluo…" Gunther remarked. "...that might just be the coolest thing you've said this month—no, _year."_

"I know right? It's been forever since I hear him say something that doesn't imitate the Captain!" Eld laughed lightly.

Oluo grumbled, "You guys…I was being serious..."

They heard a chuckled from Petra, then small giggles. She would've laughed louder, but the other groups aren't in as good of a mood as hers, so there's that.

"Thanks, boys."

"It's not a problem."

On Eren's side, he was still fuming and refusing to speak with Armin. The blond boy knew his friend's personality too well by now, so he waited patiently for the brunette to calm down. Mikasa was stuck in between the two and decided to converse with Armin and Jean instead.

"Who do you think the Colossal and Armored Titan can be?"

Armin hesitantly replied, "I've known you two since childhood, and the two Titans were there in Shiganshina, so we are definitely not the Titan Shifters. Our superiors are also out since they weren't there at the beginning of the Trost invasion. And as for the rest of our classmates…" Armin looked to the side, avoiding Jean's gaze, "...everyone currently looks suspicious right now."

"_Wait_—you think that _I_ can be the Colossal or Armored Titan, Armin?!" Jean hush-whispered loudly. "I—Marco's _dead_ because of those two fuckers and you think that I—I'm—"

"But you can't prove otherwise, now can you, Jean?" Armin murmured softly, almost sadly. "That's the problem, isn't it. For all we know, you could be pretending all this time just to get close to us. To _Eren_. It makes sense, too. You, who always worked hard to join the Military Police suddenly changed your mind and—"

Jean smiled bitterly, "So that's how it is."

"Armin. _Enough_." Eren glared at Armin. He never would've thought that a day would come where he's defending _Jean_ of all people from _Armin_.

"But Eren, I—"

Armin trailed off as Jean grabbed the knife provided along with the honey toast to slash himself across his palm. Red liquid flows freely onto the carpet floor and dyed the material in crimson. "Jean, what are you—"

"You saw Eren's arm and leg got bitten off, didn't you, Armin?" Jean calmly took out a roll of bandage from his belt pouch. "His injuries healed just like those disgusting Titans. Steam emitted from where his wounds were. And now look at me." He flexed his palm in and out; the movement caused even more blood to flow out. "It's not healing. Is this good enough proof?"

Not knowing what else to say, Armin dumbly nodded, shocked that Jean—a scaredy-cat who wanted to work in the interior to stay away from danger—would be bold enough to do something like _this_.

"You know…" Eren spoke up, looking at Jean's bloodied palm. "We can always compare notes." He took Jean's knife on the table and sliced across his palm. The blood burst from the wound, but it quickly steamed up and the skin knitted itself back together. Soon, the wound was no more.

Jean smirked triumphantly. Armin was ashamed at himself.

"Perhaps we can use this to determine who are the traitors." Mikasa quietly added.

"Let's wait until the end of the episode," Armin said, helping Jean to wipe the blood away and wrap the bandage around his palm. "I don't think everyone is ready for this right now."

Over in Connie's group, it was livelier, so no one noticed that Jean cut himself. "So who do you think is the Colossal and Armored Titans?"

Connie began in an uncharacteristically serious voice. Ymir looked away and said with a bored voice, "Who knows. Could be anyone. Even you guys."

"Ymir!" Christa reprimanded.

"What? I'm just telling the truth." But she wasn't. She knew precisely who were the traitors, but could they be called traitors even though they were never on their side?

"It's probably not Daz." Sasha chuckled nervously. "He would be too frightened to wipe out over half of humanity."

"I don't know…" Christa whispered tearfully, "I've trained with them for three years, and I've seen them all. None of them looked suspicious! Every time I tried to match their face with the Titans who broke through the Walls, it just doesn't feel right."

And Historia wasn't lying. None of them looked like they have the guts to do something of this scale. The closest ones she could think of was Reiner because of his gorilla face, but Reiner has always been a big brother to everyone. He was even willing to take part of the blame with Sasha when she raided the teachers' meat pantry!

"Maybe we shouldn't count the dead out, too," Connie whispered. "Titans can regenerate, right? What if they pretended to be dead to escape suspicions?"

"You actually say something smart for once, Baldy." Ymir sighed. "Well, we aren't going to get anywhere by speculating. Let's just stop and watch the episode."

On the Commander's couch, Levi spoke up. "You didn't talk about Bertolt Hoover. Why?"

"Well, there are several reasons." Erwin tapped his fork on the plate. "Firstly, there might be a chance that Eren will transform into this cramped room since he seems to be close to those two. I'll have to tell them my suspicions eventually, though. Secondly, it's just a hunch with no backup proof. And finally…" The Commander's eyes slid over to Armin, who was taking care of Jean's wound. "I want to see if he can deduce it from the information I've given him."

Levi snorted, "If you can't do it yourself, then how can a snot-nosed brat do?"

"Thanks for your high opinion of me, Levi." Erwin chuckled, "But he has potential. Who knows? He might be the next Commander of the Survey Corp when I die or follow Keith's footsteps."

"Pftt…" Hange burst out laughing. "And then maybe Levi can finally look straight at his Commander in the eye without—" Hange quickly took three steps back when Levi pulled his sharp duel swords out with an intense aura, "—I'm just joking!"

Erwin nodded sagely, "By the way, Hange. This 'honey toast' is quite divine. I think this has become my favorite food. It'd be nice if you can study its structure and replicate it."

**The scene started out with Armin humming a foreign song. "Isn't that exciting?!"**

"I don't think I know this song," Hange noted.

**Eren and the others were trailing behind him as they walked away from the school building. "It's **_**stupid**_**. If I'd known the Scout Regiment was strictly off the books I'd have signed up for anything besides **_**Wall Cleanup**_**."**

"**Who would have thought, right?"**

**Sasha pokes her finger on her cheek, "You gotta wonder what kind of activities this club entails."**

Connie snickered, "Oh, I don't know. _Wall cleaning_ maybe?"

"**I think it'll be great!" Armin exclaimed.**

**Connie mumbled, "It sucks we have to do this when it's getting all **_**hot**_**."**

"**The summer's just around the corner!"**

"Is this just me or Armin seems more cheerful this time?" Mikasa mumbled.

"**Um, about that," Eren spoke up, and everyone stopped walking once they noticed that Armin and Eren also stopped. "Aren't you like...burning up in that thing?"**

"**Not really." Armin turned around. "My hood might look warm, but as a matter of fact...they've made a mess!"**

**Sweat fell like a waterfall from his hair.**

'_Disgusting…'_ Levi tsked.

**Armin said, "Neat, huh? Levi sows this for me actually." Connie grunted in agreement.**

"You can sow, Captain?!" Eren raised a brow.

"I can. What's it to you?"

"Uh, it's nothing... " Eren nervously smiled, '_Wow. He can cook, sew, clean...basically an ideal housewife if not for his personality.'_

**Sasha stopped and stared at Eren. "Oh **_**great**_**. What is it now?"**

"**Who cares about Armin's hood…?" Eren clutched his fists tightly, "...WHEN WE ARE STUCK WITH **_**WALL CLEANUP**_ **CLUB!"**

**Eren screamed, "I can't be the only one here who wants to say forget this and turn around! My whole thing is fighting Titans, which means I get to get stronger! Something I'm not going to be able to do playing janitor! GRRR!"**

Oluo flipped his hair, "If it was me then I'd never complain. I would have done my job flawlessly as a member of the—_GAH_!"

Petra sighed, "Maybe you should start carrying a first-aid kit around, Oluo."

**Mikasa pointed out, "If you quit they are bound to put you in a club you hate even more. We don't even know what's the Wall Cleanup club is all about. At least give it a chance before you bail."**

"**Yeah," Jean said in agreement, "all of the cool clubs are probably at max capacity by now anyway."**

**Connie looked up to the sky as he lamented, "I think I should've signed up for the going home club."**

"**Uh, I'm pretty sure that one only exists in **_**your mind**_**." Jean deadpanned.**

**Eren shouted, "Oh come on! Exactly how many secret organization does this school have?!"**

"**Well, if they are secret…" Armin trailed off.**

**A foreign voice spoke up as they slammed the broom on the ground, "Snap to, first years! We're not here to gab!"**

"Rico!" Eren exclaimed.

"Who is it, Eren?" Eld pondered, "Though I think I might've seen her somewhere before.

Gunther smirked, "Cheating on your fiancée, huh, Eld?"

"You are so awful, darling~" With a high-pitched voice, Petra mimic her friend's future wife's voice.

"Of course not!" Eld protested. "I just think that I might know her from somewhere!"

Eren said, "Her name is Rico. She is from the Garrison's elite squad which protected me during Trost."

"**Uh...who are you?"**

**Rico slammed the handle of the broom on the floor again and spoke in an authoritative voice. "Welcome, new members. I am the president of this club, Rico Brzenska. Brace yourselves, rookies. You are about to be put through the mill."**

**An innocent bucket of cleaning supplies was placed snugly at his feet.**

**Eren hesitantly asked, "Um...excuse me, what's all this?!"**

"**Standard-issue custodial equipment set. Use it with caution."**

They laughed at the look on Eren's face.

**Eren seemed dumb-struck by this revelation. "T-They are just cleaning supplies…"**

"**Eren, breathe!" Mikasa quickly caught Eren before he fell.**

_'Lucky bastard.' _Jean mentally grumbled.

**Rico continued, "In the glory days when this club was first founded, we have over a hundred members. Now, I'm the only one left. This institution needs fresh blood. In other words, you." She grabbed Eren's shoulders roughly and stared at him in the face, "The training will be hard; that I can guarantee."**

**Eren whimpered in pain.**

Eren hated the display of weakness his other self was currently putting on. If that guy really wanted to get revenge for his cheeseburger or whatever then he should've been more proud and stubborn.

"You know," Mikasa started softly, "Rico is the only one that survived from the team tasked with guarding Eren in Trost."

"I see," Hange replied. TV-Rico said that she was the only one left, so adding that with the information Mikasa provided, it made sense.

**Sliding the broom onto her shoulder, Rico shouted, "Listen up! As first-years, you start here! I want to see these windows sparkle!"**

"**Come on! Seriously?!" Jean protested. "Doesn't the school have someone on its payroll to handle this crap?!"**

"They usually have someone to clean the school for them?!" Sasha was slightly winded, "I'm so jealous!"

Connie moaned, "Shadis always make us clean up after ourselves."

"**If you don't like it, then find another club," she smirked, "Let me warn you though, all of the human clubs have reached their membership quotas for the _semester_. The only ones still accepting applications are overrun with Titans."**

"**Err...I—"**

"**By all means, don't let **_**me**_ **stop you."**

'_Was she always this cruel though?'_

**Armin whispered to Jean, "It seems really cut and dry to me. We better pick up our buckets and get cleaning."**

"**Start with the new buildings. Do **_**not**_ **slack off."**

**The scene changed to the first-years wiping down windows. Mikasa, Armin, and Jean were the only ones doing it properly, as everyone else has dejected looks on their face and writing things on the glass window with cleaning foams. Eren, predictably, wrote 'chee-burg', Sasha wrote 'potato', and Connie wrote 'fried chicken'.**

Christa beamed, "Ymir, how do you cheer up a baked potato?"

"Are we _really_ doing this?" Ymir groaned, "Though you look pretty cute like this, too."

"I know I know!" Connie raised his hand up, "You butter him up! Right? Right?"

Sasha whined, "No more potato jokes!"

"**If I'd stuck with the original plan then odds are my name would be synonymous with 'Titan Slayer' by now…." Eren moaned.**

**Sasha groaned, "I'd kill to have an afternoon snack…"**

"**I bet the going home club have all kinds of snack..." Connie sighed.**

**Jean scolded the three, "Stop writing on the window and **_**clean**_ **them already."**

"I'm a little surprised that a guy with a face like yours didn't join in on the drawing," Levi remarked.

'_What kind of face…'_ Jean sullenly thought.

**Armin added on, "Yeah. You heard what she said; we can't slack off!"**

"**I'm so jealous of those guys…" Eren sighed.**

**The screen showed Reiner fighting with an opponent in the Judo club, Bertolt taking a ball to the face in the volleyball club, Christa and Ymir hanging around in band and Annie in the student council. Ilse was spying on them outside the window.**

'_That is—' _Hange stopped writing.

'_Ilse Langnar?'_ Erwin unknowingly finished her thoughts.

"You know, Annie joined the Military Police." Armin started. "Do you think the student council is the Military Police?"

Jean nodded, "It would make sense. The student council is the face of the student body, and the Military Police is what people would think of when they thought of a special soldier."

"Then the Wall Cleanup club is—when the hell did we join the _Garrison_?!" Eren said in bewilderment.

"Maybe this represents the brief period where we team up with them at Trost?" Mikasa offered.

"Could be." Armin shrugged, "Though it will be ironic since Eren always made fun of the Garrison soldiers in Shiganshina about changing their job to 'Wall Maintenance Squad'."

**Eren continued, "What I wouldn't give to be in their shoes…"**

**Two girls giggled as they walked past the group, "Seriously, who would join a club where they clean **_**windows**_**?"**

**Though they tried to whisper, everyone in the vicinity can hear them, "Maybe they are being punished for forgetting their homework or something."**

"**You are probably right. What a bunch of losers."**

Hange wrinkled her nose, "Ugh, I hate these kinds of people the most. Purposefully talking out loud for their target to hear them."

"_You_ of all people?" Levi raised a brow. Someone with Hange's level of eccentricity would've faced with these kinds of problems a lot. It really doesn't help that she's also too obsessed with Titans for her own good.

"Facing it a lot of times doesn't mean I have to like it."

**Noticing Jean's shaking form, Armin spoke up, "Uh...Jean?"**

**Suddenly, Jean threw the rag down on the floor before jumping outside the window, "THIS CLUB IS LAME I'M OUTTA HERE!"**

"**Jean! This is the third floor!" Armin yelled. Jean, however, landed on his two feet perfectly fine even though all the bones in his body **_**rattled**_**.**

"Don't even think about slacking off like that now that now are in the Survey Corp," Gunther advised. "Captain Levi will drag you back on your ass and have you clean the horse stalls with a _toothbrush_."

Ymir smirked, "Sounds like you are speaking from experience."

"Of course not," Gunther chuckled, "It was actually Oluo who—"

"Shut _up_, Gunther!"

**Eren yelled, "Knock it off, Horse-face! We're not even done yet!"**

"**Heh. You idiots want to spend the rest of your life cleaning windows? Be my guest!"**

"**FIRST-YEARS!" Jean looked to the right at where Rico's voice was coming from. She was running on the roof of the building, "I clearly told you **_**not**_ **to slack off!"**

"Hey, is that—" Eren paused.

**She jumped off the railing and sailed in midair before twisting around and anchored her maneuver gear to fly at Jean's horrified face before whacking him on the head with her signature broom. Jean fell a heap on the floor.**

Eren guffawed along with the rest of the soldiers. "_HAHA_—Serve you right, Horse-face!"

"The gear is only missing the blades—though that is understandable since we aren't aiming to kill Titans in this world." Hange chuckled.

**Rico landed gracefully a few meters from Jean and sneered, "When I give you an order, I expect you to see it through to the bitter end. Is that understood? We clean whatever the cost."**

Levi remarked, "'We clean whatever the cost'...hmm. I like it. Maybe we should make that the Scout Regiment's motto. It will certainly raise everyone's spirits for the next Spring Cleaning."

"As..._neat_ as your idea is, Levi, the Scout Regiment's goal is not for the liberation of cleanliness inside the Walls. It's humanities. _Humanities_." Erwin coughed delicately.

"**RICOOO!" Eren screamed as he ran up to her, "What you just did was totally awesome!"**

"**You were totally flying like a bird!" Connie stretched out his arms and exclaimed.**

**Armin said, "I think I'm interested in learning how you pulled it off!"**

"**It's the coolest thing ever!" Sasha declared.**

"**You mean this old thing?" Rico looked down at the gear, "We called it vertical maneuvering equipment—the club's most coveted secret. It's used like this,"**

**Rico shoots up the side of the building and begins cleaning. "All the better to help scour down those hard-to-reach places."**

"Well, that's one way to utilize the gear," Eld said in bemusement. "Captain Levi came up with it first, though."

**Everyone seemed impressed by the ingenuity of the device except Mikasa, who kept her face blank.**

'_**If I learn how to use this, it can help me bring down the Titans!" **_**Eren thought excitedly.**

**Jean smirked, '**_**If I learn how to use this then I'll be the coolest guy on campus!'**_

'_They are so predictable,'_ Petra mentally sweatdropped.

**Rico jumped down. "Now quit screwing around! These windows aren't going to clean themselves—"**

**Both Eren and Jean immediately jumped into her face and yelled at the same time, "PLEASE TEACH ME HOW TO USE YOUR GEAR—HUH!?"**

**Eren glared, "I get to go first!" **

"**Whatever, jerk! But stop copying me!"**

**Armin called out to the two, "Both of you, please calm down!"**

**Sasha volunteered, "If they are going to be morons, then I'll go—"**

"**I see what you did there!" Connie exclaimed.**

**Rico deadpanned, "Wow. I'm dealing with a pack of idiots." **

Ymir nodded along, "Couldn't have said it better myself."

**She covers her ear with one hand and blocks the other one with her arm, which was holding a gun pointing upward. The shot fired out a pillar of red smoke and successfully gathers everyone's attention. Connie was on the ground, butt exposed.**

"Disgusting!" Sasha yelped.

"Hey!"

Ymir covered Christa's eyes. "Christa. Don't look."

The guys were busy laughing while Hange commented, "It's a nice, shiny butt."

"'Mission failed?'" Armin referred to the red smoke round.

"**I appreciate the enthusiasm, but until you can learn how to clean a window properly, vertical maneuvering equipment is out of bounds. **_**Period.**_ **Now put aside juvenile things and make a mental note; you are to clean as though your lives depended on it. Show me that you understand by going back to work!" Rico took off, leaving the teenagers behind.**

"**Guess she told us, didn't she?" Armin smiled.**

**Connie mumbled, "I suppose you guys better go back to scrubbing **_**windows.**_"

"**Don't you get it?!" Eren said with a stretched voice since Jean was pulling on his cheek. "We show Rico we know how to take window cleaning seriously and she'll teach us how to use the gear!"**

Sasha sighed fondly, "What an optimistic simpleton."

"When we were younger, his solution to every problem is to butt heads with it until the problem finally cracks," Mikasa explained in a long-suffering tone. "Naturally, he's not right in the head most of the time."

"_Mikasa_! No one asked you!"

**Eren ran back to the building, "Stand back, everybody! I'm gonna make these windows shine like they're on fire!"**

**Mikasa followed him, "If that's how you feel about it, then I'm right behind you!"**

"_**Hey**_**, hold up!" Jean yelled.**

**Sasha agreed, "I wanna make them shine like they're on fire too!"**

"**Hey, wait for me!"**

"**I'm inspired!" Armin said.**

"Inspired?" Armin wondered.

**The scene changed to Rico stomping on the stairs, "Ugh….idiotic first-years. The Wall Cleanup club is just a joke to those brats. Now, check up. I better not see so much as a **_**streak**_—" **A bright flash of light appeared as Rico turned the corner. She covered her left eye while peaking at the source, "Good heaven! What is this blinding angelic light?!"**

"This is the result of what 'butt heads with it until the problem finally cracks' can do." Eren proudly smirked, "What do you think, Mikasa?!"

"You have _six_ people and only a few windows to clean. It would be more disappointing if you didn't achieve at least something like that with me there."

Levi grunted, "Acceptable."

**The window was shining beautifully. It's so beautiful that you can barely even see the window.**

"**Rico!" Eren called out. Rico turned to look at the shining sweat from the first-years who were sporting a proud look on their faces. All except Mikasa.**

"**I-It's so beautiful." Tears pricked at the corners of her eyes. "Well done, bravo! Normally, only seconds and third years students are allowed to use the gear, but in your case, I'll gladly make an exception!"**

**Sensing where this is going, Eren excitedly started, "So we—"**

"**Yes. I'd be honored to teach you all how to soar through the air!" Rico smiled with determination.**

"The gear is exclusive to the Wall Cleanup club," Petra noted, "So us Scouts doesn't have it. How do we conduct expeditions then? Are there even expeditions beyond the walls? And how do we fight against the Titans?"

"Hopefully it's not paper fans like Captain Levi." Eld smiled in amusement, "Hilarious as it may be, none of us would come out of that mess alive."

"**YEAH!" They cheered. However, the smiling Eren was flipped on his head with a look of despair on his face. He'd failed to balance on the gear.**

"Ah. It's that time." Eren moaned.

Hange perked up, "What time?"

"That's some shit results, even for a first-timer," Levi said. Mikasa glared at him from her seat,

"His gear was malfunctioned."

"Yeah," Eren nodded. "I almost failed my aptitude test because of this."

Levi nodded absentmindedly, "That so."

**Mikasa and Armin stared at Eren who was hanging upside down, "W-Why am I—How do I work this thing? This can't be happening!"**

"**What is your major malfunction, Yeager?!" Rico asked. "Straighten yourself up!"**

"**Just remember the basics and you'll be fine," Mikasa advised. **

**Armin added, "Loosen up your stance a little bit. If I can do it, I know you can."**

'_**That's it!'**_ **Eren slapped his cheek in determination. '**_**I'm gonna do it. I have to! I may not be as talented as the rest, but nobody, **_**nobody** _**has more guts! I'm not giving up! NOT WITHOUT A FIGHT!"**_

"You have impressive willpower, Eren," Petra commented.

"Thanks, Petra."

**With a battle cry, Eren lifted himself straight and managed to stay upright. Rico and Armin were amazed, though Mikasa was unfazed by his efforts.**

'_**I did it! I freaking did it! Huh—'**_

**Eren lost balance and promptly fell flat on his face. "Eren!" Mikasa ran up to him.**

"This is even more hilarious than the first time!" Jean squeezed out between peals of laughter.

"**Never in my life have I seen a kid with less aptitude." Rico deadpanned.**

"**Eren's so athletic though...something must be throwing him off." Armin wondered.**

"**What's your trip-up, guys?" They heard Jean's voice coming from the direction of the Walls. He was hanging diagonally from the wall with a broom in his hand, "You've managed to screw up in every way imaginable. Short of accidental equipment related brokage. Face it, man. I'm better than you. I mean—it's no big deal, really. Some people are just born with skills."**

Christa frowned, "There's no need to be such a jerk about it, though."

"Don't forget Eren basically said the same thing on his first day," Ymir snorted, "Something about how the weak have to leave...funny how he almost went himself right after."

**Connie flew to one section of the wall, "This is my side of the wall!"**

"**I'm right behind ya!" Sasha followed suit.**

**Jean chased after Connie, "Hey! Quit showing off!"**

"**Argh, look at them! Those jerks…" Eren growled.**

"**Getting mad about it isn't gonna solve a thing," Armin advised. "There's still time to get some practice in tomorrow morning."**

"**Either way, to stay in the club means he has to master the gear. Wall Cleanup is only for students who have balance." Rico said.**

**Armin was startled, "W-What happens if he sucks at it?"**

"**What do you think happens? He'll be put in some other club." Rico declared.**

"**No, please!" Eren stood up from his position on the floor. "Just give me a chance!"**

"**I don't make the rules. The weak simply has no place here."**

Eren wisely ignored the snorts from his other classmates.

"**No…" Eren whispered in despair. "I'm pathetic. How can I even stand up to the Titans if I can't even stand up straight?"**

"**Maybe it's time to let that dream die."**

Eren's expression fell flat like a pancake, "Ah, I remember this."

**Eren looked up to Mikasa in surprise. "What? What do you mean?!"**

"**I think you should give up this attempt to be a hero."**

"**What are you saying?! After everything you saw that day—_everything_ that the Titans took from us—" a flash of the Colossal Titan eating Eren's lunch was shown, "—you're nuts if you think I'm just gonna run away!"**

"**Look. It doesn't matter how determined you are."**

**Eren angrily demanded, "Huh?! What are you talking about?!"**

"**Because whether or not you are fit to be a window cleaner isn't up to you."**

Levi muttered, "Give him to me for a few days and I'll whip him into shape."

**Armin wondered, "Setting Jean aside, even Connie has mastered the gear, so clearly it's not a question of intellect or equilibrium. Perhaps there are undetectable flaws within the gear itself?"**

"I think I'm offended." Connie huffed.

**Rico glared at the blond boy, "That's ridiculous! Our predecessors took a hundred and seven years to perfect this equipment! When the R&D ran out they dug into their own pockets. They went without juice, man. They went without **_**juice!**_"

"Well, they definitely have my respects," Levi said.

"I thought that our gear was created seventy-something years ago?" Jean blinked.

Petra hummed, "Good observation. Thanks."

"**They **_**really**_ **wanted the Walls clean!"**

**Rico confidently claimed, "There is no chance of this gear being flawed whatsoever! It is the fruit of geniuses! In fact, I'm so confident that the gear cannot be to blame that I'm willing to stand upside down and eat spaghetti through my nostrils—"**

"Oh she's so gonna get it~!" Eren gleefully said.

**Rico saw the malfunctioned gear part on Eren's belt,** '_**Oh. Well, that's the problem right there!'**_

**Mikasa asked, "What's the matter?"**

"**GAH!" Rico jolted.**

"**I'm no expert, but…" Mikasa stared at Rico with a deadly look in her eyes, "It looks to me like the gear he has on is _absolutely_ to blame."**

"Is the dark and gloomy aura an Ackerman trait or something?" Sasha whispered. "If so, I think I never want to meet her other families."

Hange laughed, "Reminds me of Levi back in the days! He looks like he was ready to slice Mike in half for stuffing his face into the mud—"

The scientist quickly dodged the foot aiming at her face. The recruits, particularly Eren, was very curious but none dared to ask lest he turned his wrath on the wrong person.

**Rico started sweating bullets, **'_**Oh crap what am I gonna do what am I gonna do what am I gonna do what am I gonna do—'**_

"**Somebody messin' with ya?"**

"**Hey, Hannes!" Eren cried.**

Petra frowned, "He's drinking on the job."

"**Did you got on Mikasa's bad side today?"**

"**What makes you think taht—UGH you reek of booze!" Eren quickly covered his nose. "Wait a minute, what are you even doing here!?"**

"**Huh? What are cha talkin' about, son? Who the heck do you think the faculty advisor is for this club?"**

"**What?! You gotta be kidding me!"**

"**Shaddap! Take dat rig off and let me have a crack at it."**

Christa chuckled despite herself, "Oh, no…"

**Rico protested, "Er...wait…"**

"**Fine. Do you even know what you are dealing with?"**

**Hannes laughed, "Oh come one. Gimme some credit here. They didn't put me in charge of the Wall Cleanup club yestahday, you know?"**

"**Um….excuse me…"**

**Hannes put Eren's gear on. "There we are. Alright, now pay attention to this old man who can teach you some new tricks!"**

**The man shot off before Rico could get a word in. Armin was amazed, "Woah! Look at Hannes goes! He's amazing!"**

"**So he's not just your average everyday boozehound!"**

"Nope." Eren shook his head. "He's changed now, but he's still your average everyday boozehound."

"**HAHAHA What do ya think of me now? Am I cool or what?" The malfunctioning part of the gear exploded, and Hannes lost his balance as he went flying through the air.**

**Jean argued, "Don't even act like you weren't going to cheat just now! I found this spot first! I called dibs you jerks!"**

**Sasha laughed, "That's adorable. Sorry Jean, all's fair in love and housekeeping! Calling dibs...it's first come first serve doofus!"**

"D-Did you just call me an idiot, _Ninth_?!"

"Ranking doesn't have anything to do with this, _Sixth_."

Eren smirked, "Technically, both of you are more of a doofus than I am. Don't worry, if there's anything you don't understand, call on _Master Fifth_ and I'll consider answering."

"You wanna go at it, asshole?!"

"Bring it on, Horse-face!"

Mikasa coughed quietly, "You were saying?"

Connie whisper-shouted, "The First is here~bow down you insolent pigs!"

"**I'm onto you, Potato Girl! Don't bring your hunter logic into this!"**

"**POTATO?!"**

**Hannes slammed into Jean and knocking both of them on the floor with a large crash.**

"**Hannes! Are you okay?" Hannes suddenly clutched Eren's hand tightly and solemnly said. **

'_I think this happens when he couldn't save my mother back then._' Eren gloomily thought.

"**Eren. There's nothing you could've done about it. You are a kid. You're weak."**

**Eren sweatdropped, "Actually...I **_**was **_**practicing earlier."**

"**Don't beat yourself up. I'm far worse." Hannes suddenly cried and screamed into Eren's face, "When push comes to shove I'm just too heavy!"**

**Eren turned his face away and shouted, "UGH YOU STINKS!"**

Eren smiled in amusement, '_Did he drink then, too?'_

**Rico screamed and ran up to Hannes, "What have you done?! The gear was perfectly fine!"**

"Saved by a drunkard; Rico got lucky." Petra chuckled.

**He looked the malfunctioned part, "Well, I'll be damned."**

"**Oh, you're such a mess. Whatever are we going to do with you? I'll just have to mend that myself after class." She hastily turned around and pushed the first-years away. "That's it for today, everyone! We're done here!"**

"**What's got you so worked up?" Mikasa inquired.**

"**None of your business! I said we're done so so home or...**_**wherever**_**!"**

**The next day, Eren easily hung on the gear, "I can do it now...Yes! I don't know what's different from yesterday but I can totally do it now!"**

'_Idiot'. _Oluo thought.

"**Nice Eren!" Sasha shouted. Rico breathed a sigh of relief.**

"**Well, Rico? Does this mean I can stay? I can be in the Wall Cleanup club?"**

"**Uh yeah, you passed. Nice job! Now keep training."**

'_**Check it out, Mikasa,'**_ **Eren thought triumphantly, '**_**I'm doing it. I can fight the Titans all by myself. You don't have to worry about me anymore.'**_

Mikasa looked down. Eren was always complaining about how she was too 'motherly' with him, and while she was not happy with his verbal opinions, hearing it directly from his thought like this _hurts_.

Jean frowned, '_Stupid asshole, taking things for granted. You think he would've learned to appreciate things more after his mother died.'_

"**I think I'm actually glad things worked out for him." Jean smiled.**

**Armin added, "His eyes are totally saying 'check me out'!"**

"**Nuh-uh," Mikasa shook her head, "What his eyes are really saying is that he doesn't have to leave me anymore."**

"Um…" Eren started, but even he isn't sure what is the proper reaction to this. Should he scream? Shiver? Demand an explanation? A mixture of everything?

Mikasa shrinks into her scarf, avoiding Eren's searching gaze at all cost.

**The other four was speechless at Mikasa's strange line of thought.**

"**What the—" Sasha suddenly dropped on the floor and listened to the sound. It was some strong footsteps.**

Jean snorted, "Are you an animal?"

"Of course not! I can hear danger coming from all direction by doing that. Cool, huh?" Sasha puffed out her chest.

"Your senses are sharp." Erwin commented, "With time you can even rival Mike."

Sasha flushed, "Thank you, Commander Erwin."

**Jean mumbled, "Do I even want to know what you are doing?"**

**Sasha suddenly opened her eyes, "Gigantic footsteps are heading this way super fast!"**

**Rico turned around and immediately barked out orders, "Move away from the walls, **_**now**_**!"**

**Two Titans with paint spray bottles and paint brushes ran to the wall. "The Titans are coming!"**

"**Stay where you are," Rico warned as the two Titans reached the walls. **

**Eren asked, "What are they doing with the spray paints?!"**

**The Titans began spraying the walls and aggressively drawing on it. Sasha exclaimed, "They are attacking the Walls! Those jerks…"**

"OH HOLY MARIA ARE YOU GUYS SEEING WHAT I'M SEEING?!" Hange drooled, "Titans are drawing! That's so awesome!"

Levi growled in annoyance and quickly wipe his hands with a handkerchief, "Your slobber is getting everywhere!"

"**Yes...now you see what we're dealing with. Their graffiti is the reason this club was founded. Someone has to clean up after the wide-spread vandalism. It's an eyesore. Several students decided to take matters into their own hands. Their names were Alyosha, Dominic, Fine, Isabel, Ludwig, Martina, Guido, and Hans—founding members of the Wall Cleanup club."**

"When we were headed towards the boulder," Eren began, "Rico talked about how her colleagues aren't faceless pawn. TV-Rico talks about the founding members of the Wall Cleanup club from 107 years ago. Isn't it strange?"

Petar hmmed, "I'll write that down."

**Eren snarled and snatch the broom from Mikasa's hand. "Sorry, I have to do this!"**

"**Eren! Wait!"**

**Rico screamed, "Don't be a fool, Yeager!"**

**Eren flew up towards the Titans. Rico turned to her recruits and asked, "Did anyone did him how to use the gear while my back was turned?!"**

**They shook their heads synonymously.**

"You are _so_ dead." Connie shook his head.

**Eren charged with a battle cry, "I can do this! As long as I'm wearing this gear the Titans won't even have time to pray—"**

**Suddenly, the gas stop emitting from his canister as Eren fell downward and was pulled through the red paintbrush on the tall Titan's hand. He smashed into the graffiti, screaming all the while. Eren then fell flat on the grass below.**

Chuckles were heard, and Eren curses his other self's idiocy.

"As if you wouldn't do the same thing, Yeager." Levi rolled his eyes.

**Mikasa worriedly ran up to him, "Eren!"**

"**Way to go." Jean flatly said.**

**Armin sweatdropped, "Guess it goes to show how important practice is."**

**Rico facepalmed, "I've bitten off more than I can chew...He'd have to be trained from scratch…"**

**The Titans, finished with their job, went back to the building. Eren screamed, "Yeah, you better run! Next time you won't have it so easyyyyyy!"**

Everyone giggled.

**The Titans wrote 'soft-boiled eggs' on the Walls.**

"Why soft-boiled egg, though?" Christa wondered. But no one has an answer to her question.

* * *

"—so the prince took Cinderella back to his castle and they lived happily ever after. Interesting, eh?" Kuro ended the story, cackling.

"_I don't get it." _Shiro blankly asked, "_What does that have to do with the reason you are doing this?"_

"Oh, after I finished reading that I was soooo bored so I thought that I might as well go around and wreak havoc. Tee-hee-hee." Kuro smiled cutely and stuck out her tongue even though they weren't on a video call.

"_..."_

The other side went strangely silent for a moment, "Shiro?"

"_..."_

"Shiiiroooo...where are you?"

"_..."_

"Let me tell ya another story. So there's this girl called Snow White and—"

"_I'M GONNA KILL YOU YOU HALF-ASSED PIECE OF SHIT! YOU MADE ME LISTEN TO AN ABSOLUTELY _WORTHLESS _STORY _AND _DESTROY MY WORLD JUST BECAUSE YOU_ FELT LIKE IT_?! I'LL END YOUR MISERABLE EXISTENCEEEE!"_

A strange static sound buzzed on the other side. Seems like Shiro broke her phone. _Again._

"Well, whoopsie." Kuro laughed as she went back to organizing her yaoi collections.

* * *

"We didn't learn much in this episode." Hange summarized. "Hopefully the next few will be different."

"Let's get on to the next episode, shall we?" Erwin asked.

Before he clicked play, Armin spoke up. "A moment please, sir!"

'_Did he figure something out?'_ Erwin paused in his action as he noticed everyone's eyes are on Armin. "What is it, Arlert?"

"Sir, I think we have a method to determine who is the traitor amongst us." Armin started.

Everyone tensed. Sasha narrowed her eyes, "What are you getting at, Armin?"

"We know Titan Shifters heals, right?" When everyone nodded, he continues, "Then, we can make a wound on them, and if it heals, then they are the traitors."

"That easy?!" Petra mumbled, surprised.

"What if the enemy shifters can control their own regeneration rate?" Erwin challenged.

"I don't think they can since Eren can't. The wound on Eren's hand healed immediately when he stabs it at the beginning of the episode." Armin held out Eren's and Jean's hand for everyone else to see. "Jean's hand, however, is still in the process of healing."

Christa gasped, "You stabbed yourself, Jean?!"

"It was necessary." And he left it at that.

Erwin nodded, "I see. This could work."

Eren smiled, "Then let's do it immediately, sir—"

Before he could get another word in, Levi suddenly appeared in front of Eren and kicked him in the gut. The Titan shifter kneeled down in agony and nearly vomited. He was incredibly fast, so none of them saw it before it was too late.

"_Eren_!" Mikasa shouted in alarm before taking her swords out and aimed it at Levi. "What do you think—?!"

"Stand down, Ackerman." Levi's tone broke no rooms for argument. Armin's voice can be heard in the background, worrying over Eren.

"You—"

Erwin sent a look at Mikasa, "That's a direct order from your superior. Obey."

Seeing Mikasa finally subdued, Levi looked at Eren, "You know why I punished you?"

"No, sir…" Eren weakly replied, still recovering from the shock. He would've vomited since they've been eating a lot, but he knew his captain won't be happy if he vomits on the carpet floor.

"You dare to cut yourself without permission from me," Levi stated plainly. "I told you once before, didn't I? You are _owned_ by the Survey Corp now. _I _am your supervisor. _You _don't have control over yourself, _I_ do. What if you turned into a Titan by that stupid decision, huh? In a small room like this, we'd be _squashed_. Your childhood friends, your squadmates, your superiors. _Are you ready to shoulder that?"_

Everyone in the room was quiet. Mikasa was still glaring, but the intensity of her gaze clearly dropped a little. Even Hange is solemn unlike normal. Erwin chose to let Levi discipline his men instead of getting involved.

"I—" Eren choked, "I—I'm sorry, Captain. I didn't think that far ahead."

"I'm also at fault, sir!" Armin cried, "I was the one who brought that topic up when we were talking earlier."

"If—If that's the case, then part of it also lies with me." Jean lowly said even though his posture screamed 'fear', "I cut myself first, so Eren also cut himself. I apologize for my actions, sir." Jean bowed deeply.

"I didn't stop them, so I'm equally at fault." Mikasa didn't bother to bow to Levi, but she did put her swords away.

The staring contest went on before Levi sighed, "As long as you've learned your lessons."

"This doesn't mean I forgive you for harming Eren when you should be protecting him, _Shorty_."

Hange choked on her spit. Levi was irritated but didn't allow himself to react to the girl's taunts. He turned to his squad, "You guys, too. How did none of you pick up on the fact that the brat cut himself?"

"We are sorry, Captain…" His squad looked down guiltily like a pack of kicked puppies.

"I expect you to do better next time."

"Yessir…"

Erwin coughed, "Now that is out of the way, I think that Arlert's method is worth a try, isn't it? Everyone, please line up and hold out your arms. We will do a quick trial before watching the next episode."

Ymir's eye twitched, '_Oh hell no.'_

* * *

**Thanks for the three people who reviewed the last chapter! This chapter is really, really late (it's been over a month) and I'm sorry. Real life sucks, my future hits me like a sledgehammer (hey that doesn't rhyme), and school has been pretty stressful though there's literally nothing to get stressed out about. Human psychology is pretty weird. On another note, holy _crappp_ is anyone watching Season 3?! It's pretty fucking epic and lol I can't wait for the poor anime lads to finally catch up on SnK events XD. Erwin's scream was awesome and the Colossal Titan was absolutely majestic! Too bad WIT Studio is considering to drop this series, so it might be the last season...**

**This has to be the longest chapter I've done so far, and considering how late I am, it's worth it. I'm currently typing this while listening to Levi's 'The Dark Side of the Moon'. Oh, and did you know that some of the AoT characters have their own songs? I certainly don't! Levi's voice was a little young though, but I really don't mind.**

**I'm really glad you like the last chapter! I mentioned 'chase' specifically because I didn't want to use 'capture' since the two got away and no, they weren't chasing for a specific titan in the 57th expedition like you said. The Scouts misunderstood (that happens when you are too confident in your secret plans lol) that this 'chase' will happen during the expedition when in reality we know that it won't. About the Trost references, here's my response:**

**1) Too broad; they'll never be able to connect the two. And this is _Connie_ we are talking about. I doubt he'd remember what he said and everyone would be confused when a giant blob of Titan broke down your home and your friends are dying left and right.**

**2) I have no idea what you mean by this.**

**3) That one was kinda obvious? I mean it would be a little far-fetched to get them to connect every little event to one another, so I'm only focusing on the ones that really stand out from the rest.**

**4) I totally forgot about that lol**

**5) I also didn't remember this one ;))**

**As for that last reference...yeah I have no excuse. I didn't even connect the game of dodgeball to the boulder scene if you hadn't pointed it out.**

**So yeah, this story is made with the purpose for everyone to scream out "This is some BS!" so obviously it's not going to be serious or the likes. As for the next chapter, I'll probably update sometime in late June or early July, so you can look forward to that.**

**So how was the chapter? Please leave a review; they are the snow that warms us authors in the winter, ink to wash clothes in the spring, extra assignments in the summer, leaves to clean in the fall**—**well you get the idea.**


	5. Studying Hard! Titan Junior High

**Disclaimer: **I don't own Attack on Titan Junior High

* * *

"Everyone, please line up and hold out your arm. We will do a quick trial before watching the next episode."

Commander's voice rang in her ears as she numbly listened to Christa's voice talking about how Eren and Jean should take better care of themselves. Being the worrywart she was, Christa immediately pulled Eren and Jean aside to examine their wounds while excusing herself to do the check last. Ymir quickly seized on the chance and followed Christa under the guise of protecting her from the two idiots while the rest of the group did their test. There was no reason for Armin and Mikasa to be exempted so they too lined up.

"There seems to be an oddly large amount of bandage in this box for a watch and learn experience," Petra noted. "Maybe Kuro expect someone to get hurt?"

Eld agreed, "It is possible, though I'm leaning toward Kuro knowing that we are going to do this to test the traitors more."

"A couple of bandages won't protect us from a Titan Shifter squashing us in this room." Oluo scoffed.

Ymir can feel her nerves growing just by watching everyone. Hange and the Commander use the sanitized scalpel found in the first-aid kit under one of the sofas to cleanly cut their left arm enough to draw blood. It wasn't anything dangerous, but the wound was wrapped up and sanitized according to the instructions written on the plastic bag.

"This is interesting." Hange smiled at the label 'isopropyl alcohol' and disinfect the scalpel after each use. "I totally can't read this at all!"

"Is this the language of the governors?" Erwin frowned, referring to the English texts on the labels. The Commander then nodded to Eld, "Please copy all of the foreign texts down while Hange is doing the tests."

Eld snapped into a salute, "Yes, sir!"

After proving that they are not Titan Shifters with the wound on their left arm, Hange conducts the test on the line of people waiting patiently, albeit anxiously while Erwin sat to the side to examine each person's reaction. Hange did Eld first so that he can go ahead and start on his task before doing Gunther's. Ymir went unnoticed.

'_What should I do?'_ Ymir anxiously thought, while in reality, her face was expressionless as always while Christa examined Jean's hand. There was no need to bring Eren along, but Christa was interested in the disappeared wound. '_If it was only me, I'd transform and catch them off guard. This place is _just _enough for my Titan if I laid down, and everyone else would be killed immediately following the explosion. No one will notice when I inflict a wound on myself, too.'_ Ymir spared a glance at the now finished plates of honey toast with dirty knives and forks, '_All I have to do is pretend to drop the knife, pick it up and cut. No one will ever see it coming. Eren _might _survive with his ability, but he can't transform in this room since his Titan is larger than mine. I could squash him into bits before that—or eat him and gain his powers. However..."_

Ymir looked at Christa, who is listening to Eren's detailed recount of his and Jean's 'wound inflicting contest', '_The fact that Christa is here means I lost. If I transform, she'll be killed, too. And there's Kuro to consider. Zapping us to this strange place in the blink of an eye...she is obviously not one to be trifled with, even with Titan powers.'_

'_But the other option is to admit my secret to the Survey Corp, and now is the absolute _worst _time to do so,' _Ymir clenched her teeth, '_I have nothing to prove that I'm not the Colossal or Armored Titan, and it's not like I can transform for them to check. They'll kill me on the spot if the test proves that I'm a shifter without hesitation. Ideally, I will reveal my secrets on my own accord, which makes it easier for them to trust me, but now anything that comes out of my mouth will be viewed negatively.'_

'_And that's not all. In the best case scenario, after we return, I will be treated like Eren and even though I will be forced to fight for these people, at least with that I can still see Christa. But the absolute worst will be them keeping me for information within a cell. Or if the royal king Fritz got his hands on me, he will transfer the power of the Jaws Titan to another one of his subordinates. I can probably spin a tale on how I'm related to the royal family, but…'_ Ymir looked at the group in general and sighed, '_They don't even know about the significance of the name 'Ymir' has in the first place, so it's all for naught.'_

"What's wrong with you today? You are sighing a lot." Jean pointed out, which was a little surprising since he's hardly someone who'd pay attention to small details like that.

Christa looked at the distraught girl and asked, "What's wrong, Ymir? Are you feeling unwell?"

"I'm fine." Historia waited for the inevitable marriage proposal joke Ymir always added afterward, but it never comes. Even Eren thought that she was acting a little odd but held off his tongue for once. Jean shrugged and continued with whatever he was saying before, but he clearly kept an eye on Ymir just in case.

'_So this is the end,'_ Ymir smiled bitterly. '_I always told myself that I won't live for anyone else anymore, and look where I am now. Trapped and doomed without escape. This is probably my punishment for deceiving so many people and keep on living a lie with no escape, and I deserved it, too. But…'_ At this point, Ymir really wanted to let loose and cry, but it will draw everyone's attention should she start sobbing hysterically. Even if it doesn't matter, she'd like to save herself the trouble of explaining herself to these people. '_While knowing it, I still want to _live_. I don't want to die such a meaningless death when I should be 'the special one'. Out of all the Titans who wandered the Walls, I was the only who came out of it with a human form. I've won against the odds numerous times, so why not now? All I need is a way to stop my regeneration—there HAS to be a way! I still want to LIVE—'_

Eren placed a hand on her shoulder, and Ymir saw _it._

* * *

"_The next ability a Titan Warrior has is a little unique, we only saw a few of our own Titans display this trait, so it is definitely rare." the Marleyan officer said sternly, but then smiled a little, "While it is not exactly a useful one on the battlefield, Regeneration Withdrawal is definitely what you need in order to blend in with civilization should you attempt a spy work-related mission. This ability allows you to—Are you listening Braun?!"_

"_Y-Yes, sir!" A younger Reiner immediately snapped into a salute, face blushed in embarrassment after being caught off-guard. He spent the entire last night celebrating with his family since he was chosen to be a warrior candidate so he was very tired. His mother and her nephew were granted the red Eldian bands along with the status as 'honorary Marleyans'. They couldn't have been prouder of him and his achievement._

"_Please forgive him, sir," Marcel Galliard—or was it her?—stood up, smile frozen, "He was just so happy that he won the right to inherit the Armored Titan yesterday. Now he can give his all to our precious nation of Marley and defeat the Devils of the Walls before his term is up. Come on, Reiner, apologize."_

_Marcel pulled the blond up as Reiner bowed, "I'm sorry for not paying attention, sir."_

_The officer looked at them in disgust before turning around and mumbled, "Buncha' stupid brats. I wouldn't even be here to teach you filthy Eldians devils if I have my say in this."_

_The other warriors kept silent. None dared to risk their newly awarded status to pick a fight with a Marleyan even though they are supposed to be 'equal' now. Besides, they have been facing discriminations their whole life, so what're a few more words of hurt worth?_

_In the classroom were the five tiny warriors that will inherit their Titans in the year 843: Reiner Braun, Bertolt Hoover, Annie Leonhart, Marcel Galliard and Pieck. Before the transferring process begins, the Marleyan government wants to make sure that the warrior cadets know what they are getting into and the overall expectations of being a Titan Shifters. Most of this information are not disclosed to the public, so everyone paid rapt attention._

"_Like I was saying," the officer coughed with a hint of annoyance, "all Titan warriors have the ability to regenerate depending on how strong your will to live is, but not all of them can control the speed at which their wound regenerates. That's what Regeneration Withdrawal is all about. Not every Titan warrior can do this, but the general concept seems to be—"_

* * *

"—focus on something else." Ymir murmured in a trance, mind still muddled from the foreign memory.

Eren gave a light shake on Ymir's shoulder, "Hey, are you alright?!"

The contact seemed to snap Ymir out of her thoughts and back to reality, "Huh?"

"You are spacing out a lot," Eren said with an annoyed face, "It's like you are off to an entirely different world."

"Maybe I did," Ymir said in a joking tone, but her response was entirely serious. She _was_ off in Marcel's memories, after all. Seeing Eren's baffled face, she quickly changes the subject before he could press further, "Maybe I'm stunned by what you did. Why did you decide to touch me all of a sudden?"

Eren quickly moves his hand away self-consciously. Christa and Jean also looked at him with questioning gazes; they also find it odd that Eren had placed his hand on Ymir's shoulder since the two weren't that close. Ymir quirked an eyebrow, "Speak up."

"It's nothing." Eren quickly denied, "It's just...the look in your eyes is a little disturbing, that's all!"

"Disturbing?!" Ymir repeated incredulously. "Why you asshole—"

"I didn't mean anything bad by it, I swear!" Eren leaned back to avoid the freckled girl before trying to explain himself, "Well, the look in your eyes earlier, it kinda reminds me of myself just a little after I joined the trainee corp."

"Come again?" Jean looked taken back. Levi was listening in near the adjacent couch.

"There was that one time I struggled with the vertical maneuver gear," said Eren, clearly embarrassed that he has to bring that story up with Jean of all people here. "I was discouraged and wanted to quit. Reiner said that he believed in me and that I will be the one to exterminate all the Titans. I—" At this point, Eren seemed to struggle with the word choices for a little, and just before Ymir has to hurry him along, he finally continues, "—I saw the same look in your eyes, Ymir."

Christa and Jean were stunned. Ymir growled, "What do you mean by that?"

"That same look of desperation and desire for _something_. I know that we aren't exactly close, and even now you guys are under the suspicion of being a traitor and everything, and you are kinda weird with the way you always stick to Christa like glue—"

Ymir was irritated, "Get on with it before I sock you in the face."

"Right, sorry." Eren coughed, "I don't know what makes you feel that way, but Reiner told me this: 'Just do what has to be done and keep moving forward. That's all you can do.' It helped me a lot, so I thought I want to do the same thing Reiner did for me and reached out for you. That's all." By the end of his explanation, Eren wanted to find a hole to crawl in because dammit it was too _embarrassing._

"Since when were you _that_ considerate?" Jean blurted out.

Christa cut in, "Ymir, is something bothering you?! Please tell me!"

"It's not important anymore," Ymir answered, still in a daze. Eren did that for her? "Thanks to Titan boy here, I've figured it out though I must say; it was surprisingly thoughtful of you."

Eren grinned, "That's great, then! I'm glad I can help you, Ymir."

"Tch, whatever." Ymir smiled lightly. Eren did help her out this time, had he not made contact with her, then she doubted she would've recovered those specific memories from Marcel, and she would be dead and labeled as a traitor. '_Though it is definitely strange. Normally, familiar objects trigger memories related to it, so how did I recover these memories? Was that because I focused on the method to stop regenerating?'_

"I'm glad you are alright now, Ymir." Christa pulled on the taller girl's sleeve. "But next time, do tell me. I want to be able to help you, and I can't do that if you don't tell me anything."

"That you do, Christa."

Levi pondered to himself, '_She doesn't seem to be talking about Eren's little pep talk. What did she actually mean by him helping her, then? Also, in that split second when the brat made contact, she clearly wasn't herself. Definitely suspicious.'_

"Christa, Ymir, you two are up." Armin and Mikasa walked over to Eren's side. Thankfully, no one in the room was accused of being the traitor. Ymir quickly nodded before pulling Christa up and trotted up to Hange. Mikasa's eyes lingered on their backs before quickly turning to Eren.

"Eren, what were you talking to her about?" She demanded.

'_Here we go again,' _Armin sighed exasperatedly. Jean glared at the Titan Shifter in visible jealousy.

Eren said with a little irritation seeped into his tone, "It's nothing. She looks troubled, so I was just giving her some advice."

Mikasa doesn't look like she believed what her brother said, but left the matter alone for now.

Over on Hange's side, Ymir was nervous despite knowing what she has to do. The foreign Marleyan's explanation was simple enough, and it was just a small cut, not an entire arm or leg so it should be easier to stop the regeneration process. She'll be fine. It'll be over before she knew it. If her face shows any uneasiness, these Scout veterans will pick up on it and then she'll _really_ be done for.

"Ymir, was it?" Hange smiled brightly; in fact, it was a little too wide for comfort. It made Ymir's nerves tingles, but not in a good way. "Please pull your sleeves up from your nondominant hand and wait until I finish my preparations."

"Alright."

It was oddly quiet. Christa waited patiently behind her, while the Commander kept a neutral face as he watched her every movement. Ymir then realized what is so strange about her current situation; with the other Survey Corp members, Hange would pull them into a short talk about Titans and how awesome they are throughout the exam. Now everyone else was talking with the exception of her and the Commander.

'_Did they found out about my secret?' _Ymir pulled her uniform's sleeve up neatly before holding out her arm. '_No, that can't be. So maybe they are suspicious? But that raises even more questions; I am sure I didn't do anything to tip them off—maybe it was my background?'_

"Okay, I'm ready to go," Hange said as she gripped Ymir's arm and pulled it towards her.

'_There is no use pondering about it.'_ Watching the blade slowly pierced her skin, Ymir steeled herself, '_Just follow Marcel's memories and I'll be fine. Don't heal don't heal don't heal—'_

A flicker of pain, and then there was nothing.

The wound was still there, bleeding. Ymir almost allowed herself to give in and breathe a sigh of relief. She'd actually done it. A concept that was so foreign and unknown to her before the face of death and she'd accomplished it. It had been unexpectedly easy, even.

"It's not healing, so you are not the traitor. Congratulations!" Hange smiled, but it was a little unnatural. Did she expect it to turn out differently? "Here, I'll wrap it up for you and you're good to go."

"Thanks." Ymir waited patiently for Hange to finish before pulling her sleeve down and went back to her seat. Plopping down roughly and folded her arms in front of her for good measure, she released the technique. The wound quickly steamed and her cut was healed up under the bandage. Ymir did a quick check and was pleased to find that no one saw her. Christa soon was done with her check and moved to sit next to Ymir.

Ideally, she would've held out until they got out of this room, but it is doubtful that she can stop the regeneration on such a small wound that she barely felt for prolonged periods of time. If the Scout veterans decided to do a quick checkup, she'll think of something but for now, Ymir will consider it as a win for her side.

Seeing the last of the test, everyone got back to their seat to watch the next episode. Erwin spoke up, "No one in this room is suspected of being a Titan Shifter. So all of you are trustworthy. Thank you Eren, Kirstein, and Arlert for making this discovery," the Commander nodded to the three recruits, who looked embarrassed at being addressed, "and we will now watch the fifth episode. Please take your seats."

While everyone tried to settle in, Levi quickly approaches Erwin, "It's definitely suspicious."

The blond doesn't need any clarifications since he knew exactly what his short subordinate was talking about, "Why do you think so?"

"At first, she was clearly unhappy with the test," Levi began, "and that morphed into fear. However, she completely changed when Eren touched her. She was considerably calmer than before but I felt like there was something off."

"I see. Hange, did you see anything off?"

Hange answered, "There was something that was a little strange. For a split second, I think I saw some steam, but maybe it's just because I was expecting it and my eyes were tricking me."

"Tch," Levi clicked his tongue, "If she has the ability to hide her regeneration, then this test is meaningless."

"Not exactly," Erwin hit the play button, "I got to observe their reactions. None of it seemed fake, and if they did get past me, then we are doomed either way."

"_**Temperatures are on the rise,**_" **Kuro began in a grave voice, **"_**More and more people wear short-sleeves. It's early in the season—"**_

**Hange's glasses glinted in the sunlight as the third year's class is shown.**

"—_**and tension in the classroom ran high. Soon, the other shoe will drop—"**_

**Eld, Gunther, and Petra were clearly worried, but Oluo was the only one who looked smug about something.**

"—_**Every student's fate hung precariously without balance."**_ **Kuro finished.**

Eren blinked, "Are we in the middle of something important?"

"I think it's just exams. Some of the Scouts aren't too bothered by it so it doesn't have to do with the Titans nor a serious threat." Mikasa observed.

"**Alright, maggots!" Keith boomed, "Listen for your names! To the morons out there who tanked, bear this in mind: makeup exams will be next week."**

"_**The dreaded day of test results,"**_ **Kuro continued as if she very well understood the narrator's pain, **"_**is upon us."**_

**Hannes was wiping down the hallway as Keith called out, "Next up, Armin Arlert!"**

"**Y-Yes, sir!" **

"**Perfect score!" Armin stood up to receive his test while his classmates were clearly impressed with his results. Sasha was secretly eating behind her textbook.**

"Armin always get first place on our written exams." Eren boasted proudly, grinning at his childhood friend.

Petra nodded, but she didn't write it down. Jean scoffed, "As if we didn't know already."

"Hmph. Back in my days as a trainee I always did well on both the theoretical and the practical!" Oluo flipped his hair. No one bothered to reply to him.

"**Now we have Sasha Braus!" She flinched, but walk up to Keith and laid her hands out expectantly, "Yes, sir?"**

"**What the hell were you doing?" Keith demanded. Seeing the clueless look on Sasha's face, he repeated, "I said what the hell were you doing?"**

**Sasha stared into Keith's eyes and made a strained smile.**

"**CONGRATULATIONS, YOUNG LADY! YOU ARE NOW OFFICIALLY ON MY BAD SIDE! **_**AGAIN!"**_

The members of the Levi squad joined the former trainees as they laughed at the look on Sasha's face and the sight of the Instructor losing his temper.

Eld chuckled, "He used to be like this, too. I remember him screaming my head off when Gunther and I failed to wake up on time."

"Me too!" Petra laughed, "But I suppose he needs a huge voice to command everyone on the field."

"The field?" Christa echoed. "Was the Instructor part of the Survey Corp?"

The veterans looked at each other and smiled secretly. Hange gleefully teased, "Oh, he's more than that! Can anyone guess what is his official position in the Survey Corp?"

"Was he a squad leader?" Eren guessed.

Jean said thoughtfully, "With his nitpicking personality...is he part of the medic squad?"

"Come to think of it, he's oddly good at taking care of the injured," Connie added. "Maybe a medic squad leader?"

"If anything, I think he'd be a team leader." Ymir voiced her opinion, "Squad leaders are too valuable to be wasted on teaching trainees. Heck, if anything I'd expect him to be from the Military Police."

"I agree with Eren," Mikasa said without voicing her reasons. Not that everyone needs to know why; Mikasa was always on her brother's side.

Armin said, "I'm with Ymir for the same reason."

Sasha shared a glance with Christa, "Is he the meat guarder of the Corp?"

Upon hearing that, the current Commander couldn't stop a lighthearted laugh, "There is no such position in the military. Keith Shadis is actually the former Commander of the Survey Corp."

"Wait, seriously?!" Jean yelped, "Instructor was the Survey Corp's Commander?!"

"He was," Petra nodded in confirmation. "I was just as surprised as you guys when I first found out. Instructor Keith taught our division for the second and third year due to some special circumstances. He was a really strict teacher, so we got scolded a lot."

Levi grunted, "I'd never really liked him or his personality in the first place."

"Wow...who would've thought…." Ymir mumbled.

"So he wasn't the meat guarder after all." Sasha sulked, "But how come he can always find me whenever I'm sneaking into the kitchen at night?"

Connie offered, "You aren't exactly the most subtle, so maybe that's why?"

**Sasha moped over her scores, none of which surpassed twelve points. Jean smirked haughtily, "Seriously. Tell me your secret. If I bombed as many exams as that I'd lose my mind! There's got to be some trick to how you're still sane."**

'_I wonder if Oluo and he have any familial connection,'_ Petra thought.

Sasha shot Jean a dirty look.

"**That's harsh, man," Connie commented.**

"**Says the guys who got all **_**zeros**_**."**

**Eren wondered, "How are you not totally freaked out about what's at stake? If you fail the makeup test you'll be banned from lunch for the rest of the semester!"**

"B-Banned from lunch?!" Sasha gasped, hands gripping her heart dramatically. "I won't be targeted by the Titans so that's great but _no lunch?!"_

"What's a semester?" Gunther piped up.

Petra sighed tiredly, "Another one to put in the unknown column."

**Sasha suddenly stood up with pleading eyes, "Eren! You gotta help me! Stay and be my study buddy I'm begging you!"**

"**I'd love to but I'm heading to the Scouts' HQ, soooo bye!"**

"**Mikasa—"**

**The black haired girl quickly went after her brother, "I'm with him."**

"**Sure, go ahead…" Sasha mumbled dejectedly, "I'm not gonna even bother to ask you cuz I know you'll be a jerk."**

"You know me so well," Jean smirked.

**Jean exclaimed, "Way to make it a lot less fun!"**

**Sasha stood up and shook her head around violently, "No one wants to be a hero and help me! If I fail the make up test I'll die!"**

"**Uh...Sasha?" Bertolt shyly spoke up from behind her, "I'd be glad to help you."**

"Huh, that's odd," Eren commented offhandedly.

Voice as sharp as a blade, Levi quickly turned around to question his charge, "What is?"

"Uh...yes sir?" asked a confused Eren.

Levi impatiently repeated, "What do you think is odd, brat?"

"Oh. I was talking about odd it was that TV-Bertolt decided to help Sasha. He's a nice guy, but he usually doesn't try to get involved in other people's business if Reiner's not there," Eren explained, "Helping TV-Sasha, who has a bad grade, will take a long time and a lot of effort to speak, so I just thought that it was odd because our Bertolt probably won't do that."

Seeing the Captain's steely look, Eren added, "He's not who you think he is, Captain! Bertolt's a really awesome guy but sometimes he's just shy around people."

"Hey, Eren." Jean whispered, "Why do you think the Captain ask about Bertolt so much?"

Eren winced slightly. He'd hope no one would pry into it too much, but seems like it's impossible, "Hey, Jean. I'll tell you, but try not to spread it around, alright?"

"S-Sure," Mikasa moved closer to hear, and Jean was flustered, "Is it that big of a deal?"

Eren nodded seriously, "It is. Make sure you don't confront the Captain about this or he's going to slice you up like those Titans. The truth is..."

His childhood friends and Jean leaned in closer with bated breath.

"The truth is...Captain's _very_ sensitive of his height." Eren whispered, "Since he's not so tall, you know. Even amongst the Survey Corp, he's still one of the shortest."

"Wait, _really?!" _Jean blinked, "I suppose it makes sense. On that note, didn't he say he doesn't like Instructor Keith earlier? Instructor Keith is the tallest person I know, so it makes sense!"

Eren nodded, "So that's why he doesn't like Bertolt either even though Bertolt's a really cool guy—why are you smirking, Mikasa?!"

"It's nothing, Eren."

"...just try not to anger the Captain anymore. Someday he'll really kill you."

"I make no promises."

Armin really doubts that was the reason why Captain Levi was interested in Bertolt but held his tongue since he doesn't have a better explanation.

"—**I'll never be able to go to school again!" Sasha continued to scream without hearing what Bertolt has to say.**

"**Okay, fine." Connie smugly said, "What's the trick to getting the perfect score, you ask? Well, that's kind of a gift. It's all about feeling it, ya know?"**

"**You got straight zeros on **_**everything**_**." Sasha deadpanned before pushing Connie over and jumped on the table as she caught sight of Armin packing his bag nearby. "Armin! Help me! Come on, you got all perfect scores!"**

"Straight zeros on everything?" Ymir snorted, "That takes a special kind of stupidity, Baldie."

Connie shot back, "At least I made it to the top ten, unlike you!"

"Oh, so you aren't denying the straight zeroes part?" The hidden shifter teased, "That's just horrible, Springer. How did you even manage to get into the top ten?"

Connie wisely chose to keep his mouth shut to save whatever face he has left.

**Armin walked up to her and smiled, "You want me to help you study? Sure, no problem."**

"**You are a life-saver!"**

"**Well, I'm happy to lend a hand." Armin turned to Connie, "You can also join us if you want, Connie."**

**Sasha cheered, "And all of a sudden I feel like I'm being steered in the right direction!"**

"**Yeah! When we put our heads together then the sky's the limit! Hooray teamwork!" Connie followed up.**

**Armin smiled brightly, "Right! Those tests won't know what hits them!"**

**The three pumped their fists as Bertolt silently left the classroom, clearly dejected.**

"Poor Bertolt!" Christa cried out. "Please be nicer to him next time, Sasha."

"It wasn't me!"

'_Christa's an angel!'_ Most people in the room thought.

**After school was over, Armin slid into the desk in front of Sasha, "Alright, let's get started—wait, where did Connie go?"**

**Sasha looked around, "Uhhh...he was standing right there, wasn't he? How did he even—"**

**The shot showed that Connie was humming with a blade of grass in his mouth on the way home.**

"**Ahhh, I love this time of year."**

"You forgot, didn't you?" Jean groaned.

"On the bright side," Connie argued, "maybe in the future I'll forget something important and went home! See? We got a possible future out of it!"

"You _do_ realize that's not gonna look good on your records, yes?" Jean deadpanned as Hange wrote it down in the 'possibilities' column.

"**Did he honestly forget what we **_**just**_ **talked about and head home?" Armin deadpanned, "Well, let's not worry about him at the moment and instead dive right into your weakest subject."**

"**Okay!" Sasha enthusiastically slid out her test, "That would be math. Definitely a foreign language to me."**

**Armin quickly scanned over the sheet and said, "Let's see. Take this problem, for example. I suspect the lettering tripped you up here. Try substituting x and y in your head with an apple and an orange and see if that'll help."**

"Umm...what?" Eren dumbly asked, "It's so different from what we have to learn in the military!"

"Well obviously!" Oluo sneered, "This is what the sons and daughters of the Nobles have to learn. Of course, a peasant like you wouldn't know of it!"

"Don't be so rude, Oluo." Petra chided, "Most people in the interior who works closely with managing and business takes these types of class; we didn't deem it as necessary so the military doesn't teach you these things."

**Sasha looked lost as Armin continued to explain, "Solving for letter values is way easier if you think of the equation in terms of food. So let x be apples and y be oranges. Do you see what I did there? Now the problem's more relatable!" Sasha began to drool.** '_**Wow, this is working like a charm!'**_

"**So basically we've been sitting through Algebra all this time just to figure out the market value of produce. Oh man. If I'd known it was all about consumers I would've grown my own." Sasha trailed off darkly.**

"Exactly." Sasha concurred.

**Armin quickly jumped in, "Woah okay! Getting a little too off-track there. It was just an example! Tell you what, let's dial it back; x and y can be whatever you want them to be!"**

"**Whatever I want them to be?" Sasha perked up, "Like what?"**

"**Err...well...for example, x can be steak, and y can be curry. Why not go five-star dining?"**

"Five-star?" Hange echoed, "A ranking system, maybe?"

Christa wondered, "Curry?"

Sasha leaped from her seat and landed in front of the fridge, "One steak and curry, please and thank you!"

"_It will be done."_

"**Hold up!" Sasha chimed in, "So x can be unadon and y can be pickled plum?!"**

"Also one unadon and this 'pickled plum', please!"

Connie groaned, "Dammit...I'm still full!"

"**Sure thing!" Armin nodded.**

"**And x can be tempura and y can be watermelon?!"**

"Tempura and some watermelon, too!" Sasha's mouth overflow with saliva. "Too bad for you, Connie! But don't worry; I'll eat your fill!"

Ymir deadpanned, "You can still eat after all that?"

"Well yeah! After we are done watching there's no way we'll get to eat food this good again!" Sasha didn't bother going back to her seat and start downing plate after plate of food down. "Aw uod!"

"Haha..." Eld scratched his cheek, "She almost convinced me to eat more despite my full stomach."

"**Of course!"**

**Sasha was shocked. "Why did I never realize that something as boring as math can be the stuff that dreams are made of?!"**

"**You see? Algebra can be magical!" Seizing the chance, Armin quickly piled his opinion on,** '_**Just...not in the way you think.'**_

"**Thank you, Armin!" Sasha exclaimed, "With this method, I can handle whatever problems the test throws at me!"**

"**Yeah! That's the spirit! You just have to believe in yourself! Oh, and in real life, please avoid all the food combinations we just imagined, alright?"**

"Wait, Sasha—" Armin quickly turned around to find that Sasha has already finished everything on the platter. Said girl dropped her spoon on the table after hearing TV-Armin's warning. The blond asked in disbelief, "How did you finish it so quickly?!"

"Sasha, are you alright?" Petra stood up and asked in concern.

"Well, my stomach's a little queasy…" Sasha nervously started, before clutching her stomach in pain and dashed to the bathroom, slamming the door in the process.

Hange pondered, "Should we be worried? Is those food combinations poisoned?"

**Kuro laughed, **"_**To the morons who actually ate those things: it's not deadly; just spend the next hour or so going to the bathroom with constant nausea and you'll be fine. Think of it like drinking orange juice and milk at the same time."**_

"She said 'morons' as in plural. Did she expect more than one of us to eat it?" Jean irritatedly pointed out. "And there's only one bathroom in this place."

Connie was a little irked, "I have a feeling that she meant me...good thing I didn't eat it then."

'_That'll teach Hange clone a lesson—never stuff your face with strange food without expecting negative consequences.' _Levi nodded sagely while constantly stirring his now lukewarm tea.

Erwin sighed. With all these interruptions taking place, they might not make it before the five hours limit. "Let's keep watching."

**Meanwhile, at the Scouts' HQ.**

"**Yeah!" Eren screamed as he races with Jean and Mikasa to the room, "Scout Regiment, here I come to do Scouts' stuff!"**

"**Will you stop running like that please?!" Jean yelled to deaf ears.**

"**Good afternoon, everybody!" Eren slammed the door open, composed while Jean was out of breath. Mikasa was still normal.**

Eld wondered, "Hm. Is Kirstein not as fit as Eren and Mikasa?"

"But Eren should have more stamina than the average person since he's a Titan Shifter, while Mikasa is the top soldier in their entire class," Hange answered.

'_Are you implying that I'd be weaker than Horse-face if I'm normal?!'_

'_I-I'm just an _average _person?!'_

**Only the four members of the Special Operation Squad were in the room. Oluo was agonizing over something while Eld and Gunther were playing games and reading manga, respectively. Petra greeted, "Oh hey first-years. How's it going?"**

**Oluo quickly cut in and yelled, "Oh damn it all why?! What am I supposed to do? How was I supposed to know it'd come to this?!"**

**Petra glared, "Stop it. We've talked about it and you are whining!"**

**Eren hesitantly asked, "Is...something wrong or—?"**

"**Don't!" Petra hissed, but Oluo was already going.**

"**Oh my. I didn't want to mention it, but since you asked, I have to expound. If you must know, I did poorly on the test recently administered."**

The auburn haired woman was unimpressed as she can already guess where this is going, "Oh really now?"

**Petra cut in straightforwardly, "No one cares."**

The majority of the people in the room laughed at her blunt statement and the imaginary arrow that lodged itself in Oluo's heart.

**Oluo ignored her and continued, "Which I'm bound to tell you is the source of my current distress!"**

**The first-years stared at him dumbly as Oluo froze in his pose before yelling, "Do **_**not**_ **be deceived, greenhorns! My failure gives you no rights to disrespect me**—_**GRK!"**_

"How often does he do that?" Armin wondered, "Wouldn't it alter his taste buds in some way?"

Petra snorted, "Miraculously, it has not."

**His bloodied tongue bleeds on the floor. Petra asked, "Hey...are you okay?!"**

"**My apologies for making a scene, but the pecking order is important; the rookie has to know his place."**

"Why do you always speak like that?" Connie asked his superior. "It sounds weird."

Gunther replied, "Oluo's just trying to imitate Captain. As you can see, he failed miserably."

"No one asked you or your opinion, Gunther!"

"**You just confused him." Petra pointed out.**

"**Indeed. So our exchange went exactly as planned."**

**Petra looked at him in annoyance, "What happened to you, Oluo? You never used to talk like this. Look. It's none of my business but if you're trying to be like Captain Levi, it's embarrassing. You are not him. Never will be. Okay? So if you don't want to come off as a poser I'm going to need you to use your head."**

"I know this!" Oluo smirked, "This is from back when we first came to the old Survey Corp Headquarter."

"Oh, I remember now!" Petra gasped, "I was telling Oluo to stop imitating you, Captain! Eren and the guys were there as well."

"Okay...got it. Thanks." Hange finished writing it down.

"**Heh. If you intend to help me like a girlfriend, Petra," Oluo pushed his head up arrogantly, "then there's rather more of me you need to be acquainted with before laying claim to the privilege."**

"**Next time you bite your tongue I hope you bleed out."**

Petra smirked, "My TV-self is even quicker than me—I was going to say that."

**Jean jumped in before the two seniors can start another quarrel, "So your test scores aren't the greatest. Who cares?"**

"**Oh please. For your information, the test scores are not the issue here. I'm ashamed for letting my guard down and perform less than admirably on something at which I'm known to excel! Not that I'm expecting you to understand of course. And why do I not expect you to understand? Because when push comes to shove you are as far from my level as can be!"**

"The Captain definitely doesn't talk like that," Eren mumbled to his seatmates.

**Jean was clearly annoyed and Eren looked constipated. "I don't even study, did you know that?! I aced my exam purely on **_**instincts!**_"

"**This guy…"**

**Petra looked peeved, "Hey, what did I just tell you about trying to imitate Captain Levi? Stop. You are just making a fool out of yourself."**

"Welcome back, Sasha," Connie smirked. "What's up?"

"The ceiling," Sasha replied weakly, clutching her stomach before sitting down.

**Gunther cut in, "Oh and by the way, we know you study a lot more than you'd like us to think you do because I talked to your mom the other day. She said the night before the test—"**

**Oluo's mom along with his dad and younger brother poked in, "Honey, I made you a snack! It's late!"**

**His bandanna has the phrase 'Always aim for a perfect score' while a majestic Levi in an armchair poster glared at him from behind.**

Hange laughed the loudest out of everyone, "What is _with_ that poster?! I want it—_HAHAHA!"_

"'Always aim for a perfect score'," Eld tried to contain his laughter, and for once he wasn't too upset with fighting a losing battle, "Man, you _really_ do work harder than what you claim you do."

"Shut _up!"_

"Captain look so cool!" Jean whispered in awe, '_If I can be like that, Mikasa and the girls will surely look my way!'_

"I don't see what the big deal is," Mikasa said with an unimpressed expression, "The huge chair just makes him look even smaller. And he's not that much taller than the headrest."

Eren hissed, "Mikasa! I told you—"

"Ackerman," Levi cut in with a rare annoyed expression, "Cut it out with the short comments. It's annoying."

'_Amazing...so he is sensitive about his height,'_ Jean thought, '_Captain Levi doesn't seem like the type of person to use ranks to get people to do his biddings…his short height must _really _be a sore point for him, huh.'_

Mikasa glared at the man before she unwillingly complied, "Understood, sir."

"Good, then—"

"You really do have a _short_ temper, Captain."

Before a potential fight can break out, Erwin hit the play button.

**Eld droned on, "She brags about you all the time, said you are the most conscientious student in the whole world 'cause I guess you can't be deceiving your own mom."**

"**Unbelievable!" Oluo snapped, "You realize that's just the same as **_**spying**_ **on me? Are you all so **_**desperate?**_ **Why do you even care about my test scores to begin with?! Fine, I suppose you'll stop at nothing!"**

**Petra tiredly said, "Like I said, **_**no one cares.**_"

"**Hah, how can I fight such persistence. So be it then, I'll let you see how I did...but on the condition that I get to see your test scores, too!"**

**Eren deadpanned, "Well, I guess we are really doing this."**

"**Whatever, alright." Jean seems resigned as he scratched his head.**

**Everyone counted, "One, two—" before their tests were thrown on one of the tables. Oluo's test was the highest at 94 points. "What?!"**

"I knew it." Petra deadpanned.

"**Wait a second! That doesn't look bad at all!" Eren remarked.**

"**Are you kidding me?! I missed a perfect score by six whole points!" Oluo lamented, "You first-years have no idea how good you have it on test days; I'd offer to let you tutor me but you seem woefully under-qualified. I guess I'll just ask your teacher—"**

**Petra delivered a sucker punch, "You set us up so you can brag on purpose!"**

**Hange skipped on the hallway as she sang, "Levi~!"**

"Finally! There's me!" Hange exclaimed.

**Humanity's Strongest Soldier stopped and turned around as Hange pushes her test in his face. She got 93 points on her math test. "Tada! What do ya say whoever got a higher score on their test treats the other to some yakisoba bread hah?"**

"**Shut up." Levi showed her his 95 points test as Hange flinched.**

"Woah!" The former trainees whispered in awe. "He's even smarter than Squad Leader Hange!"

'_It's just a difference of one point,'_ Oluo glumly thought, '_Why did they react differently to mine?'_

"**Hahaha! Just kidding, yeah! I was just having a laugh! But actually, we **_**do**_ **have something to talk about. I happen to be starving at the moment and wouldn't you know it?" Hange pulled out 21 yen from her pocket, "Not even enough for **_**crumbs!**_"

**Hange leaned forward and goaded the man, "Come on, the old conscience weighing on you for not treating your pal Hange to a meal you know she needs and will be eternally grateful for!"**

"So even in another world you still bother me for these kinds of things. Good to know." Levi deadpanned. "Next thing I know it'll be one of your creations that kill me, not some dumb Titan."

"Come on, Levi!" Hange nudges the smaller man using her elbow, "If it comes to that point, I'll be your prince charming and come to save you!"

"No thanks," Levi sipped his tea, "I have a feeling that you'll just make things worse."

"Levi's so mean!"

**Levi sneered, "You got enough for Sacchan Squid."**

**Hange screamed, "What are you saying?! Sacchan squid is not nor has ever been yakisoba bread and you're a monster for implying that they are in any way similar! Stop trying to dodge the issue!"**

"**So you made a bet with me knowing your score and then you go and jump all over my case for making an alternative suggestion?" Levi started to walk away. "I'll just chalk this one down to stupidity and move on."**

"Savage." Connie grinned widely. "This is comedy gold!"

"And he managed to pull it off while looking so cool, too!" Jean chortled. "He's more like a straight man in a comedic skit than the strongest man!"

"Humanity's Strongest Straight Man…" Eren whispered.

"How come he gets so much approval?!" Oluo half-demanded, half whined, "I'm pretty much the same as him!"

Eld chuckled, "So you are finally admitting to copying the Captain, I see."

"You are _nothing _like the Captain, Oluo." Petra huffed, "He's way cooler than that!"

"So it's the face, isn't it?!"

**Seeing that her forcefulness was getting nowhere, Hange relented, "I'm sorry. I'll admit my bold-faced attempt to finagle you into buying me some yakisoba bread with so many questionable intents if not downright dishonest. However!"**

**Surprised by the sudden rise of her voice, Levi turned around, "However…nothing ventured, nothing gained."**

"Hange told me that when she was on her Titan lecture the night I came to the Headquarter." Eren said glumly, "I got tricked into listening about a bunch of Titan info I already knew."

"How mean, Eren! I certainly expected it from Levi, not you!" Hange breathes dramatically with a short laugh.

**Levi stared into her eyes, which shone with determination, before he said, "Starve for all I care."**

"_HAHAHAHAHA—_THAT WAS _GREAT!" _Jean hollered without restraint as he clutched his stomach, gasping painfully from laughing too hard.

"After Hange was being so serious…." Armin puffed out his cheeks to control his mirth, "...he simply said _starve for all I—PFTTTT…_It's _too funny!"_

"Captain! That's just cruel!" Despite his opinion, Gunther laughed the loudest out of the four.

"The best thing is the background music!" Christa analyzed, "It made everything seems so important and then—" The blonde cut off as she covered her hands over her mouth to suppress a chuckle.

"Oh, laugh it up, everyone." Hange huffed, a little annoyed.

**Hange ran away, "Have it your way! I'm gonna go leech on our underclassmen using your name! FYI you are a stupid jerk and you have stupid hair!"**

"Hey!" Connie huffed. "Could this be a future reference?"

Hange denied, "I doubt it. The Survey Corp may be lacking in funds, but we aren't _that _desperate. And Levi does have stupid hair, but for some reason, the girls in the Corp love it."

'_His hair is just as short as him.'_ Mikasa mentally smirked. After learning that Levi was sensitive about his height, the number one rookie was determined to collect as many short jokes as she could to send an entire booklet to him. After all, the Captain never ordered her to not _write _short jokes.

'_It'll be fun.'_ She decided.

"**You needs to work on your comebacks!"**

**Levi opened the door with a sigh to the Scouts' HQ to find Hange bound on the floor. Eren and Jean were breathing harshly with everyone else on guard. Oluo was half-dead. "What the hell are you guys doing?"**

Ymir raised a brow, "I find it hard to believe that you guys took down a squad leader."

"Well, there's also the Special Operation Squad present plus Mikasa present, so it's not as unlikely as you think." Jean defended.

**Jean jumped, "We had to! She was out of control! Crazy girl just show up out of nowhere and went on a rampage!"**

"**Please, sir! You gotta get her outta here!" Eren nodded along.**

"You know, I just thought of something." Hange piped up. "Erwin, you are younger than Mike, right?"

"I am." Erwin nodded.

"Then assuming that everyone in a year of this...junior high school is the same age like we do here, then wouldn't it be weird that Eren and the rookies are first-years, Petra and the guys are second-years, while Levi, Mike and I are third-years?" Hange pointed out. "Levi and I aside, Mike is older than us, while Petra and the guys are several years older than Eren and everyone else."

"That's odd." Armin looked up thoughtfully, "Going by that logic, then age doesn't matter. In the other world, assuming Captain Levi, Squad Leader Hange and Squad Leader Mike is the same age, then a person's age can be different compared to us! For example, the King can be a young baby, or he could have died decades ago! This is an amazing discovery, Squad Leader!"

"No need to flatter me, Armin!" Hange chirped, "I know I'm awesome!"

"Hange's general idiocy aside," Levi contemplated, "this is certainly something to look into. If the possible future predictions are related to the age of the people involved, then we can reasonably figure out a possible timeline."

"That makes sense." Petra nodded.

"**Yeah no."**

**Eren continued, "But Hange was hardcore **_**flailing!**_ **You should've seen it; she took down **_**Oluo!**_"

"**Not my problem."**

**Hange's glasses shined dangerously, "Levi, do you get now how serious I am?"**

**Levi glared harshly as if he'd seen mold on the floor, "Yeah, I get how seriously crap your brain is."**

"Captain totally has an affinity for shit jokes, doesn't he?" Armin whispered.

Eren nodded, "That's right."

'_Just like his personality.'_ Mikasa thought.

**Hange wilted on the floor. Eren wondered, "Not that it's any of my business but...how did you get yourself so short on cash?"**

**Oluo magically recovered and shushed at Eren, "Idiot, **_**shut up!"**_

**Hange broke her restraint and looked up at Eren with a maniacal expression. "Ah, I knew it! I **_**thought**_ **you might be curious enough to ask!"**

"**Huh?!" Eren looked around to find that everyone else except himself, Jean and Mikasa had left the room, leaving Hange behind.**

"And this is when I asked her about the Titans out of curiosity." Eren pulled a face, "You guys seriously abandoned me...what happened to no one gets left behind, huh?"

Petra laughed, "You brought that upon yourself, Eren!"

**Hange took on a perverted expression as she grinned, "You asked questions! Ohhh yes all of the sorts of details fascinate you huh?!"**

"What a creep." Ymir looked disgusted.

"Ymir!" Christa chided.

**At the Biology club with Moblit, Eren asked, "Uh...Hange, why did you bring us to the science lab?"**

"Who's that?" Sasha piped up.

"He's Moblit Berner, the vice-captain of the fourth squad, but he's more commonly known as Hange's servant." Levi deadpanned, "On that note, he's also the heaviest drinker in the Corp because of that."

Jean nodded, "Everyday must be hell for him. What a champ!"

"**Well, we of the Biology club use this room from time to time at the faculty's blessing, of course. Welcome to what we do."**

**Hange opens the door slowly as it creeks ominous sounds. Eren peeked in, "Okay? This seems a bit…I don't know, dark?"**

**Hange quickly pulled out a flashlight and pointed it at herself, "Now, allow me to introduce you to—"**

**The light was turned on and the first-years saw Sonny and Bean bound behind Hange with steel rods.**

"SONNY! BEAN! MY PRECIOUS LITTLE BABIES!" Hange leaped out of her sofa, pushing Levi aside in the process and went for the screen. Erwin fumbled with the remote before pressing pause.

"Is that...the two captured Titans that were killed?" Christa hesitantly asked, "Why is she—?"

"Just in case you guys didn't know, Hange's a Titan maniac. She loves Titans and wants to know more about them. A Titan Specialist if you will." Gunther explained to the confused recruits.

Connie echoed in disbelief, "A Survey Corp member who love Titans?!"

"I thought she was a little odd in the previous episodes…." Ymir mused, '_This woman is dangerous. I wonder how much she knows.'_

"Hange, please get back to your seat," Erwin ordered sternly. "We have to move on or we'll never get to the end of this."

Levi wasn't that patient as he immediately stood up and manhandled Hange. Petra also helped in dragging the Squad Leader back to her seat and mentally lamented, '_If only Moblit was here.'_

The short man wipe the screen clean and went back to his seat.

"**Titans?!" Eren exclaimed.**

"**Aren't they cute? I'm going to name them after a bug and a crab I used to take care of a long time ago."**

"This one's not true," Hange sniffed, "I actually named Sonny and Bean after the leader of a human-eating tribe!"

'_That's even creepier!'_

**Moblit said tiredly, "Here we go** _**again. Another **_**one of these freaky naming ceremonies."**

"**You are Sonny! And we'll call you Bean! Let's be chumps, huh?!"**

**Her assistant screamed, "Hange, please! You are too close!"**

**Immediately, Bean tried to bite her. Hange jumped back and remarked, "Phew! That was a close one!"**

"Wow." Jean and the others who hadn't experience Hange's own brand of eccentricity deadpanned. "This is unbelievable."

"Yet another instance of Titan trying to take a bite out of a human." Too used to Hange's madness, Petra calmly noted, "Last time, Instructor Keith only threatened to feed Sasha to the Titans, but this time we see a Titan trying to eat a human. That is odd."

"Does she...you know...do this in our world?" Connie whispered to Eld, "In the TV-world, it's probably fine since the Titans don't eat humans, but in our world…."

"I get what you mean, and yes, she does that all the time," Eld replied in a dry tone, "Hange's obsessed with those Titans, and most of the time they're just trying to kill her while she sat on the side and tell them a bedtime story."

'_What a place for oddballs…'_ The rookies deadpanned.

Ymir thought, '_I wonder how she'll react once she knows that Titans used to be humans.'_

"**That's what I just told you!"**

**Jean exclaimed, "You can't just treat Titans like hamsters!"**

"**Of course you can!" Hange denied, "We've been bumbling in the dark for too long now! The framework through which we understand these creatures is built on a little more than fear and contempt. I can see that my approach may be a complete waste of time. However!" Hange's eyes shone with determination, "Nothing ventured, nothing gained."**

'_It's refreshing, her opinion, that is.'_ Jean thought, '_Whenever we think of Titans, our first instinct is to run away in fear or kill them. No one has thought about understanding what those Titans are like her. She's a driven person."_

**No one seems to have faith in her words.**

**Sonny tried to say something as Hange switched her attention to the Titan, "Come on, talk to me—"**

**The Titan tried to bite her before she jumped back. "Hange, will you please stand clear?!"**

**She started laughing while clutching her stomach, "Hahaha! You were a hair's breadth away from getting me there didn't you darling?! Hahaha!"**

"**Someday you are going to get your head chomped off!"**

Eld sighed in exasperation, "Sadly, Moblit's not even trying to tell a joke."

"**I see how it is." Levi leaned against the doorway and sighed. "It pretty much explains why you are broke."**

**Eren asked, "When did **_**you**_ **come in?!"**

"**Exactly, right?!" Hange yelled, "The cost to feed him is enough to keep our club finances in the red! I tried to scrape together when I can but my allowance is in jest so you know…" She trailed off with her stomach giving a growl.**

"**I guess it can't be helped." Levi opened his bag. "I'm **_**not**_ **treating you. I expect to be paid back in full."**

'_Despite his harsh and insensitive comments, he's a good person deep down.' _Christa observed.

"**Levi!" Hange screech in happiness, imagining what Levi will give her.**

Connie mumbled, "Let's see...strawberry cake, sausage, steak...and what's that other one?"

"No idea, but it looks delicious."

**Levi threw her a pack of dog food.**

It was so unexpected that everyone was caught off guard before they start laughing uncontrollably.

"H-Headlong _Dog Food—!"_ Eren choked, "This is amazing! And he said it with such a straight face, too!"

Sasha guffawed, "This really reminds me of the time when Mikasa almost gave me her bread, but then she ate it out of spite! These two are definitely related!"

"_Excuse me?!_" Mikasa abruptly stop smirking and whipped her head around to face Sasha with a threatening expression.

Potato Girl squeaked in fear, "I-I'm so sorry!"

"Levi! How can you do that?!" Hange whined. "I'm starving! At least have some compassion for your fellow club members!"

Levi's lips twitched at his TV-self's nonchalance, "I did."

"**What's this?" Hange held out the red packet hesitantly.**

"**Food for your hamsters."**

**Jean was taken aback, "Not for her?!"**

"**Go buy some Sacchan Squid for yourself and leave me alone." And with that, Levi left.**

"**Gee, thanks." Hange opened the bag and ate the content even though Sonny and Bean clearly wanted to eat it, "You are one stubborn **_**bastard**_**."**

"You ate it?!" The majority of the room exclaimed.

"Sonny and Bean seem to like it…" Hange sneak a peek at the fridge, "Maybe I should—"

"No." Erwin firmly denied.

Hange looked at him with pleading eyes, "Our mission is to discover the unknowns beyond the Walls! Tasting the unknowns is also one of them!"

Eld pinched his brows together and exclaimed harshly, "That doesn't mean you have to stoop to eating _dog food!"_

"I think I also want to try it." Sasha shared a glance with Hange, who followed up on the recruit's comment, "See? She agrees with me!"

"Have you not learned your lesson yet?" Jean deadpanned.

Sasha declared, "No way's a stomach ache can stop me from trying out new things!"

'_Great. Now the clone and her original is teaming up.'_ Levi messaged his forehead. '_What a pain.'_

"Fridge! Please get us some dog food!" Hange exclaimed before Erwin has a chance to stop her.

"_It will be done."_

The Squad Leader opened the fridge to find a large orange bag with no label and full of dried bacon-flavored dog food.

"How is this even…" Gunther began, but he lost the will to finish that sentence and settled with a facepalm and a pained groan.

Hange hungrily dived in and open the packet before scooping out a handful of brown pellets, "It smells like bacon and meat!"

Sasha put her face down close to the bag and take a deep sniff, "Woah! You're right!"

The two of them then take a large bite out of the amount on their hands before chewing thoughtfully. The rest waited with bated breath as they sported expressions varying from interested to disgusted. Hange finally said, "It's a little tough to chew, but not bad! It's better than those sloppy soup you have as a trainee, at least!"

"Really?" Eren and Connie stood up before making their way to the orange bag. After hesitantly taking a small pellet, they nodded in agreement, "Yeah, it's not bad!"

"I want to try it, too!" Eren brought the bag over to where everyone is sitting and they each grabbed a few pellets to try out. Curiosity won Erwin over while Levi refused to touch it at first but relented after seeing Erwin took his own bite. He had to agree; it was better than those sloppy messes that the kitchen called soup, and the pellets were incredibly meaty even though it's a little on the salty side.

"You know, most of these foods we eat is either overly salty or overly sugary," Jean noted, "I wonder why."

Armin answered, "Maybe it's because the governors are used to it. But eating too much salt or sugar can have a negative effect on your health, though."

"**I'm so proud of you, Sasha! You got most of the answers dead on!" Armin complimented.**

**Sasha scratched her head in embarrassment, "Well, I **_**did**_ **have a pretty awesome tutor."**

"**Hey, no." Armin handed back her mock tests. "At the end of the day, you did this all by yourself."**

'_**If I'm honest,'**_ **Sasha thought to herself,** '_**My impression on Armin was that he's just weak.'**_

"Wha—_no!" _Sasha spluttered, "Of course not, Armin! You aren't the most athletic, but you are super smart! If not for your plan at Trost then all of us might be dead!"

"Yeah yeah!" Connie added on, "None of us would've thought to use Eren's Titan to our advantage!"

Armin blushed, "Thank you."

'_**However, he's very kind and smart. He's got lots of wonderful traits.'**_ **Sasha smiled, "Armin, thank you very much for your help today."**

**Armin shook his head, "No, it's my pleasure. See you tomorrow and good luck on the make-up test!"**

**Watching Armin run on the street, Sasha spoke out loud, "You're amazing. You didn't have to help me out but you stepped up! Now it's my turn!"**

**Before she has a chance to head home herself, Armin screamed and ran back to her. "It's dark on the street!"**

A few of them chuckled, but they were tactful enough to keep the volume down.

"**What's wrong?!"**

**Armin cried, "I'm scared of the dark! I'm scared of the dark!"**

**Sasha smiled, **'_**I guess he is weak after all.'**_

**Keith's voice boomed, "Alright, livestock! I'll give you your makeup tests now! Try not to screw up!"**

**The writing on the boards differs greatly from the venom in his voice.**

Everyone in the room stared at the phrase 'You can do it!' with great interest.

"What the hell's that?!" Eren exclaimed.

"Let's see...we have 'Makeup Tests!', 'Do your best!', 'You can do it!', and 'by Keith'. Perhaps it is some form of encouragement...whatever that is?" Hange logically concluded. "It looks like those label on the first-aid box so probably the same type of language."

Connie whispered, "'Do your best livestock' seems more appropriate for him…"

**Sasha turned her test over, "It's got an x and a y! And I know exactly what to do! Haha you don't scare me, algebra! So what should I substitute? Steak and curry sound marvelous. Hamburg steak and melon are also good. But cake, sushi, bean paste bun, ramen, and gyoza are hard to give up, too!" Sasha drooled, "What's on the menu today?"**

"Mhmm!" Sasha put on her best yummy face, "That sounds delicious!"

"_**In the end, Sasha flunked the makeup tests, too. Now, she's in remedial classes." **_**Kuro sounds like she's trying her best to suppress a cackle, "**_**Connie was automatically put in remedial classes because he **_**forgot** _**about the makeup test."**_

Jean snorted, "The possibility that Connie will forget something important in the future has increased."

**Hange screamed in ecstasy as she ran across the field with Sonny and Bean chasing her. Moblit ran after them and screamed, "This is **_**dangerous**_**!"**

**Connie sighed, "Ah, I love this time of year."**

* * *

"Milady. You have a phone call from your fellow governor." Shiro's butler respectfully bowed and gave her a ringing phone. It was brand new since she had already crushed the other one.

Shiro snatched the object before looking at the screen, but nearly threw it in the fireplace when she saw the calling ID. In the end, she pressed the green button, "What is it?"

"_Heya Shiro."_ Even though Shiro can't see it, she knew that Kuro is definitely smiling widely, "_Do you think that humans are _such _greedy creatures?"_

"Of course they are; that's why they are so distinguished; so special." Shiro impatiently asked, "What are you getting at?"

"_When you dangled a piece of meat in front of them," _Kuro began, "_Obviously they'll bite. But then they'll crave more and more until there is nothing left. Once there is nothing left, they will crave for it even more. They _thirst _for it. Now, I wonder; what will the Scouts do when a solution is found after a hundred years of imprisonment?"_

The governor was confused; what exactly is Kuro getting at?

"_Dunno if you are watching them or not," _Kuro's voice singsonged, "_but now is a good time to do so because I'm gonna do something epic...something that's gonna flip the table so many times over!"_

"As if you didn't mess everything up already—"

"_Also, this call is connected to my earphones, so no matter how hard you scream, it's not gonna be heard—well, my eardrums might be gone but that's a small price to pay."_

"Hey!" Shiro screamed, "What are you going to do?! Don't you dare—!"

To her horror, the other side has already started talking, but the target was definitely someone else, "_Hello! Ladies and gentlemen! Have you picked up anything important from the episodes yet?!"_

* * *

"—_Have you picked up anything important from the episodes yet?!"_

Hearing Kuro speaking was indeed surprising since all she'd ever done was putting texts on the screens for everyone to read, but never doing the actual speaking herself. It was the same voice as the narrator's, and it honestly doesn't fit with the image of a terrifying and powerful governor. The Commander, as expected, quickly composed himself and got straight to the point,

"Hello, Kuro. Everything is going along fine, though there are admittedly not as much helpful information as we would have preferred." Erwin began. There were too little resources in these videos to 'win the war', as Kuro has put it, and since Kuro decided to make contact with them anyway, Erwin decided to bargain for something else. "If possible, can we—"

"_Oh, don't worry about that!"_ Kuro cheerfully said, "_I knew you guys were going to come to that conclusion sooner or later, so I'm giving you another resource to work with! Ain't I a nice one?!"_

"Hooray!" Connie cheered, "Kuro's such an awesome governor!"

Eren nodded, "Yeah! With this, we can finally get going!"

"Thank you for your assistance." Erwin nodded, a hint of eagerness in his voice.

"_It's not that big of a deal, you guys have done great so far: establishing the Scout Regiment, going on expeditions, finding out the Titans' weakness, developing the gear,..." _Kuro gave the impression of a shrug. "_It's quite impressive. Your_ Founder _would've been _so _proud!"_

"Founder?" Armin echoed.

In that instance, Ymir just _knew. _She _knew. _The fear of hunger, her time in the cult, her years beyond the walls, and her days as a trainee flashes in front of her like a bolt of lightning with horrifying clarity and she's _oh so afraid like she'd never been _before—

"_Well, there's no point in speculating since you do possess a part of her soul just like all Titan Shifters, so you must know, right?" _Kuro's voice went from cheerful to deep and dark and Ymir _knew_ she's _dead_, "_**Ymir?"**_

Levi _moved._

* * *

**FINALLY FINISHED! I know I said I'll update sometime around late June or early July but it's almost halfway into July already lol. I'm going to guess that the next chapter's gonna be out around late August or early September, but I suppose it's not that trustworthy now is it? XD**

**Thanks for the seven people who reviewed the last chapter ^3^! AoT Season 4's gonna be out in Fall 2020 and it's the last season so I'm pretty hyped even though the manga corner is in absolute_ chaos_ right now what's with the content of Chapter 119 (it's been like a week and the shock still hasn't worn off). If you are a manga reader and hasn't gotten the scoop yet, type readsnk into google and there's the website for reading the manga and pretty much everything else related to AoT. A new chapter release once every month on approximately the 12th but you usually get a full English translation on the 5th or so XD.**

**I agree that the soldier could've been more tactful in saying that 'it's got boobs' but imagine a pack of men got stuck together on a deserted island and suddenly a well-endowed woman appear and tell me they won't start stuttering like crazy XD. It's mostly for comedic relief though, and yeah in Lost Girls Annie did beat up those guys that tried to 'cop a feel'.**

**Glad to see that you guys are enjoying the transition between what's happening on Paradis and the room. Originally, I wasn't going to establish what happened there to drop a bomb on Erwin and the guys when they got back (something like "At least some people are enjoying themselves! We worked our asses off to defend the Walls from a Female Titan, did you know that?!") but then I thought that the readers will be confused with the sudden development so I decided to add it in.**

**To the random Spanish reviewer: If you wait for it all your life then technically you'll be undead lol.**

**There are many positive feedbacks overall and I'm really glad; this is the first time I'm actually making a long-time commitment to a fanfic (I usually do one-shots) and taking time out to write the characters properly so I was pretty nervous about flames and the likes. From now on I'll try to do my best to make every chapter worth your time (whisper: and reviews~) (ﾉ´ヮ`)ﾉ*: ･ﾟ**

**If you are a manga reader, then you may or may not caught the hint from the Hange and Levi dialogue in this chapter. ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°). Eren misunderstood and spread the (false) rumor about Levi being sensitive with his height. Canon-wise, I'm not sure, but it'll be interesting to see his reactions. Also, bet none of you expected the Ymir reveal because I gave her an out in the beginning, eh? XD. The reason I revealed that Ymir is a shifter was because there is not enough stuff in AoT: Junior High for me to work with to make an interesting story so I just throw in a plot twist. Once again, not sure how much does Ymir know canon-wise about Marley, but I'll probably have her know mostly history facts and also some Titan facts.**

**And don't worry. I know I'm awesome with cliffhangers lol.**

**So how was the chapter? Please leave a review; Hange said they are even more amazing than dog food.**


	6. The Story of Ymir! Attack on Titan

**Disclaimer: **I don't own Attack on Titan Junior High

* * *

Levi _moved_.

Before Ymir can register anything else, she felt her stomach cramped in painfully as the Captain kicked her down with lightning speed. Landing on her back, she barely had time to breathe before Levi _stomped_ on her wrist painfully and tried to skewer her through her mouth. Surprisingly, _Jean_ of all people quickly intervened by drawing out his own blade and stopping Levi's own in a locked match. Ymir let out a pained cry, coughing up a little blood.

"What are you doing, Kirstein?!" Somewhere over the other couch, he heard Oluo hollered, and then sharp metals clanging against each other; someone—no, multiple people drew out their swords in response. Levi ignores them and used his other hand and went in for the kill.

"No, Ymir!" Christa shouted in alarm.

Eren suddenly jumped in between the path of the blade and Ymir, startling the captain but it was too late; he couldn't retract his sword. The blade went just under his chest and impaled through Eren's body. Mikasa reacted quickly with a sharp cry of, "EREN!" before lunging at the captain.

The rise in volume seemed to startle everyone into action; Christa acted first after Mikasa landed a roundhouse kick at Levi's head, knocking the Captain away from Eren who landed on Ymir, and rushed up to him. The Special Operation Squad also drew their own gear in response to the threats to their Captain's life, which prompted the rookie to stand up and readied their hands at the sword handles. None dared to make a move on one another as Levi tried to fight off Mikasa in the small room.

Armin sees to Eren's wound, deeming the titan's regeneration ability is working before yelling at Mikasa, "Mikasa! Stop!"

Startled out of her trance by the blond child, Hange followed suit, "Levi! You too! Let's talk this out!"

Erwin simply observed their behavior with a cold, distant gaze.

"What's there to talk about?!" Levi growled lowly, eyes never leaving the girl before him; she was a surprisingly dangerous opponent and it seems that the rumor of her skills being worth a hundred soldiers wasn't a joke, "Both the Colossal and Armored Titan is from the 104th Trainee class, she was there during the invasion, and at the ceremony. Kuro just said so herself; she's a titan shifter! Stand down, Ackerman! Are you going to stop me from putting down humanity's biggest threat?!"

"I have had enough with you kicking Eren around, _Captain_!" Mikasa shouted at the top of her lungs, "You people have _one_ job and you couldn't even do it! Using Eren as bait, verbally abusing him, and physically harm one of your own soldiers. For all the talks about how he can help you with your missions you are just treating him like your enemy!"

Christa quickly added her own opinions, "There has to be a misunderstanding here! Ymir's not the Colossal or the Armored Titan, nor she is a threat to humanity! I've been right by her side for the majority of our time in the corp, and I can vouch for that! We were also together during Trost and she didn't leave my side even once! There's no way—"

"That's not enough to prove your innocence, _recruit,"_ Levi barked back, "Now that I think about it, you two are pretty much attached at the hips. How can you vouch for her innocence if you are one of the suspects, _Christa Lenz?!"_

"Christa has nothing to do with this!" Ymir bellowed from her position on the floor, wheezing from the impact of Levi's kick, '_Three—no, four broken ribs. As expected of Humanity's Strongest Soldier.'_

Worse, steam is bursting from her sprained wrist, further condemning Ymir for her case. Next to her, Eren's eyes are wide and wavered between betrayal and anger. Everyone was staring at her hand in horror with the only sound being the sizzling of steam. Gunther snapped out of it first and yelled, "She's healing herself; she's definitely a titan shifter!"

"You guys!" Petra yelled at the recruits, "Get away from her! She's dangerous!"

"_Tch,_ I knew it!" Levi turned to the group and swiftly moved to cut down Ymir once and for all.

'_He's fast!'_ Mikasa jerked in surprise and moved herself to intercept the captain, but she was too late.

"_EVERYONE, STOP THIS INSTANCE!"_

A strange voice roared in anger, followed by a strong burst of killing intent that has the veterans shook a little. The recruits outright whimpered; Eren temporarily forgot about his anger to look at the source. Levi stopped himself just in time and twisted his head to who he deemed a larger threat.

Only Erwin remained calm during the chaos.

"Honestly, that good for nothing _fiend_," the newcomer growled in resentment that somehow surpasses Eren's rage for the titans, "Forcing me to come all the way here myself like some pizza delivery girl. The nerve of that bitch."

"Hello," Erwin nodded, and if he was surprised at how someone can appear out of nowhere, he didn't show it, "May I ask for your name, please?"

The other occupants in the room were of a different opinion. Whispers began to pick up on who the stranger was and how can she suddenly pop out of thin air like that.

'_Is she Kuro?'_ Jean let his thoughts wandered as he clutched onto his wrist; he knew Captain Levi was insanely strong, but even with both hands he could barely kept the Captain's sword in check, and Jean was sure that the shorter man had been going easy on him.

'_What a beautiful girl,'_ Sasha thought in reverence, '_Is she blind or are her eyes just that milky white? And her flowing dress, too. It reminds me of the moon.'_

'_Well, one thing's for sure; that mouth of her definitely doesn't match the delicate appearance.'_ Eld slid his swords back into his sheath and signaled his teammate to do the same.

"Who are you?" Levi asked rudely.

"You may call me Shiro. As I am sure Kuro had told you, your world is ruled by a governor. I am that person."

Connie stood up a little straighter in surprise, "Eh?! You are a governor?! But you look so young, though!"

Shiro hmphed, "Look does not dictate anything, mortal. You will do well to remember that. For now, everyone, please put your weapons away and get back to your seats like adults. We will talk this out peacefully and calmly like human beings and not pigs."

Before Levi can have a chance to piss off their governor with his usual rude remarks, Erwin intervened, "Levi, do as she said. Ackerman, you too. Everyone else," he suddenly raised his voice, "Put away your weapons and sit down. Ymir, put your hands up where we can see you."

There was nothing he could do if Erwin had explicitly given his orders, so Levi put his sword away after sending a warning glare to Mikasa. The number one rookie, to her credit, put her weapons away with little fuss and quickly rushed over to Eren's side. By now his wound had already healed and he's staring at Ymir with suspicion and betrayal; to think he was talking amicably to her just half an hour ago.

Ymir winced as she tried to stand up with Christa's assistance. Her wrist healed, but her ribs still have a way to go. She was thankful for the newcomer's—their _governor's—_appearance. No matter how strong Mikasa may be, there was a high chance Ymir would've been killed before she can make any attempts to straighten out her records.

"Right, now that everyone has calmed down—"

"Excuse me," Oluo interrupted with a steely gaze, face serious for once, "You said you are our governor, right? What the hell have you been doing these past 100 years?! Humanity is on the brink of perishing, and where were you?! Aren't you supposed to protect us?!"

"I don't have to do _shit_ to help you, _humans_," Shiro sneered contemptuously, "It is not any of my business if you humans decided to screw each other over; my responsibility is to this world; not humans specifically. Make a statement that pompous again and I'll castrate you. I've been busy monitoring the Mid-East Union and Marley for the past few years, so I haven't had the time to check on you people."

'_We aren't 'screwing each other over', though,'_ Oluo gritted his teeth, but didn't speak up at the threat to his manhood, '_Those titans ain't even human.'_

'_This is bad.'_ Ymir quietly thought to herself as she raised both of her hands up as a sign of submission, '_She is neither an enemy nor a friend, but Marley…'_

"Now, Ymir. The stage is yours." Shiro sighed and rolled her shoulders, "Whether you are dead or alive after this depends on your presentation. Remember; you only have this chance."

Ymir quietly nodded, still tense and not trusting that the captain won't decapacitate her if she messes up. She made no moves to speak.

"Hey, Ymir, what are you doing?" Finally lost his calm, Eren glowered menacingly and stood up, "Explain yourself, dammit! What are you?! Are you our friends or enemies?! What is your purpose for coming here?!"

"At least let me sort this through first! I don't even know where to start; you people are so woefully ignorant that it's hard to find where to begin!" Ymir snapped back, "For your information, I am a human, I'm technically your friend and definitely not your definition of the enemy, and my purpose for coming here is because a crazy deity spirited us to this strange place. Happy?!"

The 104th recruits were stunned speechless by her outburst; they'd never heard Ymir raising her voice so loud and talking that much at once before. They could see how scared she was, standing up there as their enemy but they couldn't find it in their logic to feel bad for the girl. None of them knew who she truly was nor where her allegiance lies, and they can't afford to let sentiment fester for their enemy. But despite their brain telling them this, their heart still goes out to their fellow comrade.

The veterans don't know what to make of this situation. First, they got confirmation that Ymir, a 104th trainee, is a titan shifter but they don't know whether she is the Armored or the Colossal, and the tension between the Corp members and the recruits finally boils over with looks of distrust being exchanged across the room. With Ymir exposed as a titan shifter, the squad couldn't bring themselves to trust another one from that batch of trainee and so were they.

"How about you start from the beginning with Marley and the world?" Shiro suggested, snapping her fingers and a chair poofed into existence, "The rest of the stuff about who you are and how you got your power can wait. And don't worry—no one's going to cut you down while I'm still here." She sent a meaningful look at Levi, who tsked in annoyance.

"'Marley and the world'?" Hange whispered for once. Could she be implying that—

"Yes." Ymir steeled her nerves after getting assurance for her safety from the strongest person in the room, "Our governor—Shiro—is saying just that. You guys are not the last humans inside the walls. Humanity has not perished."

All at once, the room exploded with various reactions.

"What." Connie delivered in perfect deadpan. "I'm sorry, _what?!"_

'_Finally, the day has come.'_ Erwin leaned forward and braced himself, '_E__verything I've worked for in my entire life; all of them were for this moment. I wanted to give up so many times, but I could not whenever I remember those words from my father. This is it.'_

"Humanity...has not perished?" Petra echoed in confusion and bewilderment.

"Is it true, Ymir?!" Armin all but leaped out of his seat, eyes sparkled in wonder while his childhood friends sunk back into the sofa, too stunned for words. "T-Then what about the ocean?! Flaming water? Snowfield of ice?! Land of sand?!" He got more and more excited at the end.

"I think you are talking about the volcano, the arctic, and the desert," Ymir answered in bemusement at his childlike enthusiasm.

"I have no idea what those terms are but yes!"

"Hold up," Jean quickly jumped in, "We are not focusing on the important detail here; humanity has not perished?! But in the textbook—"

"The textbooks are all bullshit." Ymir quickly punched that line of thought down like deflated dough. "In fact, I have the hardest time not bursting out in laughter when we were going over how the people of the Walls are the last one survived in class. In fact, there are multiple nations out there and they are all alive and well."

Hange's hands kept flying across her notebook as she breathed in wonder, "We are not the last humans alive...there are civilizations out there. I see! The titans cut off our communication routes from the outside world, so there was no way for them to know that we are at risk of—"

"And sorry to burst your bubbles, but they all hated your guts. In fact, the entire world wants the people of the Walls _dead._" Ymir answered bluntly. Now that she was sure Shiro will come to her aid should any of them get the funny idea to get rid of her, she doesn't need to hold back and can tell them the whole story, "They were the one who drove you guys into this corner in the first place."

"Huh?" Hange screeched to a stop on the page. That one statement from Ymir also killed the enthusiasm of everyone in the room as their faces dropped dramatically. Had the situation not been so serious Ymir might have laughed out loud at how ridiculous they seemed. Instead, she takes a look at Christa; she seems to be taking this better than everyone else in the room with a serious look on her face. '_Yep, there's the real Christa alright.'_

"They...hate us?" Jean whispered.

"The people of Marley and other nations have been dumping titans onto Paradis Island—which is where the walls are, by the way—for the past century. That's why the titans seem to multiply with no ends to them and why they came from the south; the port is in that direction."

"Marley…" Armin caught on, "Shiro, you said that you were monitoring something called Marley, is that…"

"Yes," Shiro nodded in confirmation, "The nation of Marley, where the Armored Titan, Colossal Titan, and your friend here came from." She makes sure to stress the word 'friend' and includes Ymir separately to show that the girl isn't their enemy.

"But why?!" Gunther exclaimed loudly, and Ymir was sure the only thing that kept him from marching up here to get a hold of her collar was Shiro's bored, but firm gaze on his person, "Why would they do that to us?! Aren't we all humans just like them?! Why would they dump _human-eating monsters_ to us in the first place?!"

Petra also stood up and yelled, "He's right! Why would they do that?! Do you know how many of our comrades had been killed by those t-_things_?!" The girl felt her voice cracked, stopping to wipe away her tears with her hand before continuing, "How many of our soldiers have been killed with the last thing they saw is those disgusting titans? The people of the world know and did nothing?!"

"Because they viewed us Eldians as devils," Ymir quietly whispered, "A long, long time ago, our ancestor Ymir Fritz made a deal with the devil in order to obtain the Power of the Titans, the ability to transform into Titans," at this, she nodded at Eren and then continues, "with that power, she cultivates the land, build bridges, and brutally massacre all other tribes, Marley included. That was about 2,000 years ago, I think, and her powers were passed onto her descendants. Together, Eldia ruled the world for a while before a civil war broke out."

"Ymir...isn't that..." On the outside, Historia seems to be addressing this question to the freckled girl, but her head suddenly feels heavy as if there was something _there,_ but amiss, '_Ymir...where have I heard that name before? Or did I even come across it at all? It sounds familiar yet not at the same time.'_

"I was named after her, correct."

Erwin used this opportunity to ask his question, "Fritz is the name of the current royal family ruling the walls. I assume that she is related, yes?"

Ymir nodded and quickly continue before anyone else can ask a question, "The 145th king felt that us Eldians had committed a grave sin by killing aimlessly and titans shouldn't have existed in the first place, so he gathered as many Eldians as possible and retreated to Paradis Island and built the walls through his titan powers, and erased the memories of the citizens, tricking them into believing that the rest of humanity had perished."

Everyone was stunned silence. _Everyone's_ memories were _manipulated?_

"He was right all along," Erwin murmured shakily, inaudible enough to most people, not that they paid any attention to him anyway since they were too horrified, '_Father...you were right all along!'_

"The Tybur family 'betrayed' Eldia," Ymir air quoted; from Marley's perspective, the Tyburs were the revered heroes for centuries and it felt weird to say that they are the bad guys here, "They made an alliance with Marley and ended Eldia's rule. Marley took seven of the nine titan powers during that period; one of them I assume is with the royal family, and the other is in Eren over here."

"What are the titans' powers?" Levi grounded out, clearly uneasy by the new revelation. It's great that there is only nine other monstrosities like the Colossal in total, but the majority is in the hands of Marley. Most people in the room were green in the face, but he noticed that Eren seems calm; too calm, to be exact. He filed one of his worries away since he doesn't have to put down a temperamental titan shifter in this cramped room, but it puts him on edge.

"You already saw the Colossal and Armored; I don't know any more than you do about them. It's the same for the rest, too. Marley doesn't publicize the records just in case they get into the enemies' hands. All I learned are their names," Ymir began to list off, "The Female Titan, the Cart Titan, the Beast Titan, the War-Hammer Titan which belongs to the Tybur family, the Jaws Titan which I hold, the missing Attack Titan that probably belongs to Eren, and the Founder."

Ymir paused to observe everyone else's reactions and wait for the inevitable question. Eren is really worrying her because his expression is _terrifyingly_ blank; she'd expect him to at least blow up and interrupt her a few times, but he hadn't done it so far. In fact, he seems like he's barely even breathing. Armin was an entirely different case; while his best friend was dead calm, the blond was shaking a little, eyes dilated, sweat raining down from his forehead not unlike his episode 4 counterpart, and brain probably thinking a mile an hour.

"Who are they?" Ah, there is the question she'd been waiting for. Jean, unsurprisingly, brought this up with haunted eyes. "Who are the Colossal and Armored Titans? Who amongst the 104th trainee class are they? Who is the fucker that kicked down the Walls?" '_The piece of shit who killed Marco—'_

'_Good. He doesn't think I'm included in that list._' Ymir quickly focused on the only good point in this bleak situation. "You probably don't believe me when I say this, but…"

"Spill it!" Connie leaped to his feet and insisted in anger, though Ymir noticed that it wasn't directed at her. "We've been mentally preparing ourselves since we learned that humankind's enemies are amongst the friends we've been with for the past three years…" Connie teared up a little, but looked up determinedly, "Who is it, Ymir?"

'_Ripping the bandage off fast is best,'_ Ymir closed her eyes and steeled herself to get this out and over with, "Bertolt Hoover is the Colossal Titan and Reiner Braun is the Armored Titan."

"_WHAT?!"_

Hange couldn't help it; the mood in the room sunk even lower at the claim but she burst out, "Ha! I knew it!"

"You knew?" Sasha turned to look at her with something akin to betrayal, before reigning in. The rest of the recruits eyes her and Erwin with varied degrees of interest, but ultimately confusion. Before they get the wrong impression, Erwin quickly intervened, "We had our suspicions. Remember during episode two, we introduced you to Mike Zacharias?"

The recruits nodded shortly, urging him to continue, "He has an incredibly sharp nose, able to smell out titans before they enter his vision, and had helped out in our expeditions a lot. When he smelled the Bertolt Hoover from that world, the cried. That tipped us off, though none of you recruits noticed it."

Levi used this chance to admonished his team, "You guys, too. I'm surprised none of you saw that."

"But..._that_ Reiner...and Bertolt.." Finally, there were some reactions from Eren. He sounded like he couldn't believe what he'd just said, "Those _TRAITORS!"_

Before she could stop herself because speaking for these people's enemies definitely won't leave a good impression behind, Ymir softly spoke up, "Technically not. They have never been your friends, to begin with; their only mission was to kill the remaining Eldians on this island and steal back the Founding Titan. Judging from how they are still here, they haven't found it yet?" She turned to Shiro for confirmation.

"Probably, I haven't been keeping an eye on Paradis so I wouldn't know," Shiro shrugged, "but Marley haven't made a fuss about it so I suppose not."

"On that note, I should tell you something else, Annie's with them," the recruits _jerked_ suddenly, clearly not expecting that.

'_Oh.'_ Armin thought blankly. '_I see. I was right. Then it was Annie who killed—' _Armin felt nauseous at the thought of Marco; his friend who often talk with him about Jean and Eren while they sat under the moon together to mend their equipment, before quickly blocking his mouth with his hands and ran for the restroom.

"Annie?!" Sasha exclaimed, "_That_ Annie? But Annie never interacts with either Reiner or Bertolt; and, and—"

"She _saved_ me!" Connie exclaimed, moving closer and slapping his hand on his chest repeatedly to make a point, "She didn't have to do it, but she risked her life to save me during that time we were stuck in the supply building! She—"

"Hold up," Petra raised her left hand up in a stop motion and used the other to flip through her notebook, "You mean Annie Leonhart, right? The one who joined the Student Council or the Military Police?"

"Yes," Mikasa answered coldly; she had never liked Annie in the first place, and this new piece of information only serves to further the gap between them, "Annie Leonhart placed fourth in the 104th Southern Division, specialized in her unique fighting style which used her small frame to her advantage and overall not very good at interacting with others. She was also there with us during Trost and at the ceremony."

"What is _wrong_ with this class?" Oluo whispered hysterically as he helped Petra copy down the notes.

"I don't know which titans she holds, but those three are probably Warrior Cadets. They are Eldian children picked specifically to inherit the Power of a Titan through specialized training done by Marley. The Eldians in Marley are treated as second-class—though honestly most of the time they aren't even treated as humans—so becoming a warrior is a great honor for their family and will promote them to first-class citizens. Serves as a great incentive, apparently."

"How do you know so much, Ymir?!" Christa asked, "Who are you, really? Why did you come here?"

Ymir was silent for a while. It's great that Christa didn't think any less of her—not that she doubted—but now she has to answer this question. The others were clearly interested, too. She chuckled, "Not really. These are just common knowledge in Marley that everyone knows. As for me…"

The freckled girl closed her eyes and reminisced on those days filled with pain, comfort, regrets, and horror before—"I was an orphan on the street; not too unfamiliar with the ones inside the Walls; we were hungry, poor, and nameless. Children's corpses on the sidewalk were the norm, and we formed groups in order to survive. No one was willing to let us work for the money; we were too young and frail, and we were Eldians. It was not an easy time to scrape by."

Levi thought about his own past; while he never had to worry about being singled out for being from a different race, his time in the Underground is not dissimilar to Ymir's own and can relate. The only reason why he came out on top was because of Kenny who had been there to help him in the beginning, but the man left anyway. He hadn't heard any news of him since.

Mikasa, on the other hand, could sympathize with Ymir's story. Both her mother and father were outcasts from the general population; her mother with her Asian descent and her father being from the Ackerman family. Works were hard to come by and her family went through a lot of troubles to secure shelter. '_Ironic. The people of the Walls were prejudiced to their own and it turns out the entire world was out against them all this time.'_

"One day, a man found me and took me home. He gave me warm food, a drink, and shelter. It turns out he wants to build a cult of people who worships Ymir the Founder to resist against Marleyan propaganda. I was given the name 'Ymir' and became a false goddess for a time. The cult also consisted of people who don't believe in Marley's story about how Ymir was the incarnation of the devil."

'_Odd. The titan Ilse met also said lady—no!'_ Hange's line of thought abruptly shut down for a moment before starting away with double the speed, '_Think. The titan Ilse met said 'Lady Ymir, welcome.' and 'Ymir's people'. Ymir looks a lot like Ilse. There was a cult in Marley. Marley has been dumping Titans on Paradis for a century—'_

"Then, one day, we were discovered—"

"Hey, Ymir…" Hange interrupted with an uncharacteristically serious tone, "Where do titans come from?"

'_She caught on surprisingly fast.'_ Ymir tensed; she had wanted to save the worst for last, but the scientist had caught on already for some reason. "What do you think?"

"That's right, where do they find titans from?!" Eld wondered, "Catching a load of titan before dumping them on Paradis is too much trouble and hard to do without casualties. Where exactly do they come from?"

Oluo agreed, "Yeah, and it's not like they have the necessary equipment to reproduce."

Petra smacked him for that comment.

"Ugh...I had wanted to wave the worst bit for last…" Ymir sighed.

"You mean the part about Reiner and Bertolt being traitors aren't bad enough?" Eren glowered.

Mikasa added, "Annie, too."

"And the whole world is against us." Armin groaned.

"Right, here it goes: only Eldians have the ability to turn into titans, or simply, all titans were once human."

"_What?" _One can _hear_ the sound of Levi's stomach hitting rock bottom. Humanity's strongest soldier looks as if he will fall on the sofa any moment but stood his ground. The same cannot be said for the others. Connie took a step back and fell onto the floor.

"W-We can be turned into _titans?!"_ Jean sounds winded like he couldn't believe the crap that came out of his own mouth. "T-Then, all those titans in Trost—"

"Yeah."

"And those in Wall Maria—"

"I know."

"A-And Eren—"

"Oh, he's human alright."

'_All those titans we took out—'_ Mikasa pursed her lips, '_No, that's not it. If I hadn't taken out those titans in Trost, then they would've devoured our people. I did the right thing under those circumstances. But still…'_

'_The titans..were humans?' _Eren's eyes were wide and his jaw dropped, '_The titans that killed mom, Thomas, Nack, Milieus, Mina, and everyone else...they were once human? They are my enemies, sure, but now I have other enemies. Just what is going on? Who's the real enemy? Who do we need to kill in order to get out of this cycle?!'_

On the veterans' side, they were noticeably worse off than the recruits. The 104th trainees had to face reality earlier than most Survey Corp soldiers, sure, but they never had to make a living out of slaughtering titans and keeping tally on who killed the most as if it were some kind of trophy. They'd never had to murder countless titans outside the walls while being all gleeful and making it seems effortless to inspire confidence in the younger and more inexperienced members, nor they ever had to carve out the titans' flesh in the name of furthering a step to mankind.

'_What the hell have we been doing all this time?!'_ Gunther grounded his teeth together, fighting back the tears that threatened to fall, he clutched his fist so tight that fingernails dug into his skin and drew blood.

'_Sonny...Bean...all those titans I've experimented upon…'_ Hange felt like throwing up, '_All those time I poked them in the eyes, sliced their skins apart, skewering through them, pulling out their tongues,...they must have felt pain, right? But even so, I—'_

'_I cannot say I regretted it,'_ Erwin's face was set in a mask of grim determination unlike the grief-stricken face of his subordinates, '_All that I've done so far is for the purpose of uncovering the hidden truth regarding this world we live in. I've tried my best to minimize casualties while furthering as much as possible with the resources we have. There was nothing I can do. I cannot feel guilty about striking down those titans.'_

"I know what you are thinking." Ymir sympathized, but if she let them pity themselves for too long, they will never get out of that pit, "But trust _me_. Speaking from experience, those times were _hell_. I had wanted for someone to put me out of my misery for all those years...it was like an endless nightmare—living but not at the same time—"

"Wait, experience?!" Christa raised her voice in alarm, "You mean...Ymir—"

"That's right." Ymir smiled faintly, "Our cult was discovered by the law enforcement, and we received the worse punishment of all; to be delivered to Paradise and turned into titans. That was more than sixty years ago."

"You mean...you've been wandering around the walls for sixty years?" Armin whispered in incredulity, "As a titan?"

'_How is she still sane?'_ Connie gritted his teeth, feeling _something_ for the brash girl—it wasn't quite pity, nor anger, just plain sadness that he can't relate to—, '_Going around aimlessly in the shape of a giant human, but not quite. Not being able to talk to anyone about it, having to consume human and it's not even for the sake of survival!'_

"How did you turned back into a human?" Hange questioned, "Is there a way, after all, we can—"

"That's right!" Sasha startled, "You turned back into a human, right? Is there a way to turn titan back into humans? We can help all those who got turned into titans—"

"I'm sorry, but that's not possible. And I don't advise you to do so either; the people sent here are either anti-Marley patriots or were horrendous criminals in the past. There's no telling that they'll side with you, either; they could sell you out to Marley for a chance of going back; it's just this island against the entire world, after all."

"That makes sense," Petra breathes out in regret, "I've been meaning to ask for a while, but what is an 'island'?"

"Oh, an island is just a mass of land surrounded by water; usually an ocean."

'_The ocean! It was so close all this time!' _Armin gasped in wonder.

Oluo egged on impatiently, "But how did you turn back into a human?"

"You eat a titan shifter and get turned back."

At once, all eyes snapped to Eren in various degrees of incredulity, to suspicion, and then horror. "Now..." Ymir slowly said to make sure her statement isn't taken in the wrong way, "I'm not sure if it's possible for a human to consume a titan shifter and get their power that way—you usually get turned into a titan beforehand—but where the hell did you get that power from, Eren?"

"Did you...uh, _you know_?" Eld looks like he regretted asking that question, but _someone_ has to say it.

"No, I don't. I don't know about this any more than you do." Eren gritted his teeth, before blinking and abruptly turning to the governor, "Shiro, do you know?"

"I do." She nodded, "Your father was a titan shifter from outside the wall."

"What!" Eren yelled. "Dad...Dad's from outside the walls?! He's a Marleyan?!"

"Of course not, dumbass!" Jean shrieked, "Only Eldian have the ability to turn into titans, remember?!"

"Well, this is surprising," Ymir duly noted, "but that explains a lot. He probably hid the truth about the world in that basement of yours."

"That means—Dr. Yeager is dead?" Armin whispered, '_Because Eren had consumed him and become the new titan shifter—'_

Erwin nodded in understanding, "I see. So that's how it is. But there's still the question of how did you get turned into a titan in the first place."

"My dad...the day Wall Maria fell, he went to the interior, and we haven't heard from him since. If there's a timeframe for him to turn me into a titan, then it's probably after we descended the refuge boat right up until the attack on Trost."

"No, that's not right. We are under heavy supervision since we were from Shiganshina." Armin analyzed, "I think it's even before we enter the military; now that I think about it, you heal unnaturally fast even then, Eren."

"But still, why did he do that?!" The titan shifter gritted his teeth.

"Ymir, what about you?" Hange questioned, "Did you consume one of the enemy shifters?"

"Yes, a friend of Reiner, Bertold, and Annie, Marcel Galliard." She admitted, "I came by their group right before the attack on wall Maria. That's how I knew who they truly were."

"Why didn't you say anything?" It wasn't quite an accusation, but quite close, and the look on Mikasa's face didn't help either, "Why did you keep silent all this time?"

Everyone quieted down. They didn't want to speak up just in case they seemed like they accused her of something beyond her control, but Ymir could have done _something_. Tell someone. More lives could've been saved. They were willing to listen to her reasonings, and they knew she was their friends, but the doubts still linger.

"I…" Ymir stopped and really questions herself. Why didn't she say anything? "Well, I was worried, for one. You all saw how they treated Eren, and he was the one always yelling about killing all the titans. Imagine what the royal family would do if they found out that a titan shifter from the outside got in? They'd most likely feed me to another loyal subordinate and erase the memories of those who saw me."

"That's...true. I didn't even think about that." Eld blinked, '_That's right, the government is our enemy, too. They took away our memories and tried to hinder the Scouts' activities numerous times before.'_

"Another reason is that I felt indebted to them." Ymir sighed, wondering if it was a good idea to disclose this much, "If Reiner and his group hadn't come here, then I would still be wandering around the island, waiting for some Scouts to come and kill me—" some of them flinched when they were mentioned, but quickly kept a neutral facade, "—so I pretended that I didn't know them to repay the favor."

"But the name 'Ymir' held significance! And they must know that, too," Armin insisted, "There's a chance they already knew. Why didn't you change it?"

'_You prying midget,'_ Ymir thought in mild annoyance, but since she'd already divulged a lot, she might as well spill the rest of her unpleasant memories, "And the third reason is that I was no one. Unwanted. Unneeded. And then that man found me and gave me a purpose; however, when the authority caught us, they pinned the blame on me and said that I mislead them by saying that I have the blood of the king. In the end, I played along and told them that it was true, hoping for a lighter sentence for everyone else."

'_Humans.'_ Mikasa's mouth twisted in disgust, '_W__ith the right motivation, they will do anything to benefit themselves without regard for other people—though I am the same, am I not? If it was for Eren and Armin's safety, then I would gladly sacrifice everyone's life—including my own—in a heartbeat.'_

"I lived a life lying to myself constantly, trying to make myself believe that I was needed by becoming someone who I was not, that I wasn't a worthless child, but look how it turned out." Ymir laughed bitterly before directing a meaningful look at Christa, "When I woke up again, I have the chance to start a new life, another chance to be myself; a person with her own wills and interests. Then I decided that I won't lie to myself anymore. I wanted to take pride in my own name, be my own person, and live a life without regret."

'_That's why she never held back,'_ Sasha blinked back a tear, but it was futile, '_That time...she wasn't just trying to be an asshole. She truly gets it. She didn't want me to waste my time by speaking in a tone other than my own. She _helped _me. She may be rude and arrogant, but at least it was her own voice.'_

"And if you brought the fact that you are a titan shifter up, you'd be forced to work for us if you got out alive." Hange quietly finished, "I can't say that won't happen for sure."

"Right." She nodded, "I think that's all from me."

Levi spoke up, "What about the other nations and our standing with them? All we've been hearing about so far is Marley."

"Eldia had inflicted some form of pain or others on all nations in the past," Ymir reluctantly continued, "so they all have grudges and will gladly band together to get rid of us if need be. The only reason they didn't is that the titans are here, roaming around the walls in a protective shield. I'd say you'd have the most luck with Hizuru since they've allied with Eldia in the past, but there's really no telling. Best to assume that we are on our own and plan around it."

"Darn, talk about irony." Gunther chuckled humorlessly. "The enemies we've been hunting all this time is the only thing stopping everyone from getting killed."

'_Strange.' _Erwin thought, '_Marley is the one responsible for leaving the titans on Paradis in the first place. Why would they do that if it hinders them from killing us all? If they control the number of titans released at the same time, then they could've massacred us all. Is there something I'm missing? If so, then the most likely answer would be—'_

"Ymir," the Commander spoke, "Do you know what is the Founding Titan's power?"

"Not much. Ymir Fritz is basically compared to a devil in Marley's propaganda, which is untrustworthy at best. Some power of the Founder we know for sure is that it's the strongest of all and allows humans to turn into titans that will obey the shifter's will, and erase the subjects of Ymir's memories."

"Erasing memories…" Erwin paused, "This is quite the bad news. If we are to return and disclose all of this informations to the higherups, all of our memories will be erased."

"That's right." Hange temporarily stopped writing to think of a solution, "How about we keep all the things Ymir told us—and by extension, Ymir herself—a secret and only divulged what we learned through these episodes?"

"And then we can find out who is the royal member currently possessing the power of the Founder. I see what you are thinking there, Hange." The Commander noticed everyone staring at him and sent a questioning look back, causing them all to turn away.

"You seem oddly calm by all this, Eren," Mikasa whispered to her brother; he hadn't been causing as much of a fuss as she'd thought after all that they've learnt so far and naturally she was worried.

"I'm fine," he replied automatically, understanding what she was getting at, "Nothing changed much for me, we just have another enemy to look out for. In fact, I'm a little glad that they are humans just like us," Eren's eyes glinted dangerously, "all the more convenient to cut down."

"I agree."

'_Truth to be told,'_ Eren let his mind drifted, '_I thought I saw something else for an instant there but then it was gone. I think it was a person; a girl who looked a lot like Christa for some reason and an old man with a beard. Who the hell are they? I think they are important, but I don't know. This is so confusing.'_

"That went pretty well," Ymir spoke to herself after everyone started to talk amongst themselves about what they'd just learned.

"I agree," Shiro sighed tiredly, "I almost got a heart attack when that dumbass Kuro decided to reveal who you are. Honestly!"

Shiro grumbled about her annoying colleague once more before turning serious again, "Alright, my job here is done. I'm just here to moderate you guys just in case any of you tried to kill Ymir before she gets to finish with her explanations; since this place doesn't belong in the living world, people who died here do _not_ meet a pretty end since they can neither go to heaven nor hell. Try not to get anyone else killed."

Levi's steely gaze softened just a little. Had Shiro not been here, then he really would have shredded Ymir into pieces before she can get a word in even if these cadets stood in the way. They do not possess the resources to capture a shifter alive, especially if they didn't know that she wasn't either the Colossal or Armored.

"Also, do not expect anything else from me. I don't know what kind of impression you have of us governors from Kuro, but it is not my job to pick a side in this useless human squabble. I won't help you, nor I will help Marley. You are on your own. That Kuro might fucks this up by sending you people here, but I'm not going to mess this system up further. When you are done, leave."

"I see. Thank you for telling us." Erwin stated diplomatically.

Even though none of them verbalize it, they didn't like Shiro as much as Kuro, who had helped them to get here and learned all about this. Sensing their displeasure at her blunt truth, Shiro imparted a notice, "And don't think that Kuro has your best interests at heart, either. She is likely just using you for her own amusement. Don't blindly trust anyone, especially if they are on _this_ side."

Then, she disappeared. One moment she was there and the next the space was empty. No dramatic gush of air or sound, just a vacant space. Connie even walk up and tried to feel the space before deciding that yes, it was empty.

Erwin quickly coughed to get everyone's attention, "In light of the situation at hand, we have no reason to withheld everyone from the true nature of the 57th expedition anymore."

"Erwin, are you sure about this?" Levi raised an eyebrow. Even if no one in this room is suspected of being the traitor anymore, telling them secret information is a little…

"It's fine, Levi. Now, everyone, the real reason why we insisted to take custody of Eren is..."

* * *

"You handled that better than I thought," Kuro tilted her head to the side to dodge the upcoming bullet, "There were 38 scenarios out of 124 that ends with Ymir being killed; that's about a 31% chance."

"What the hell are you trying to do, making Ymir reveal the truth of the world to them?" Shiro scowled, "If left alone, then everything would've been fine." She jerked her head to the screen Kuro was watching which now has a bullet lodged on the upper right. On the screen was Floch, who was falling down the ocean.

Kuro scoffed, "Yeah, right. 'Fine' by _your_ definition, you mean."

"As long as the world itself still stands, I could care less about casualties."

"..."

"..."

"You might want to go back," Kuro asserted, "not to Marley, but to Karanes District. Something interesting's about to happen."

"...those three?"

"Yeah."

* * *

"THIS IS AMAZING!" From the top of the wall, Annie heard the old man from Trost—Commander Pixis—yelled, "She really has boobs! And they are really nice, too. Firm-looking, and just small enough to fit a titan's palms. Shame that there ain't any nipples—oh, and that ass, too! Are you drawing that down, Anka? This is amazing! I can't believe female titans really exist! Do you think she'll eat me will she ask her nicely, Gustav?"

"Probably, sir," Gustav mumbled in awe—not in a perverted way, mind you. He was just really surprised to see an actual _female_ titan for the first time. "Forget that Commander, you should take care of the absurd amount of titans down there. Everyone else is panicking."

'_I might just do it right now, you pervert!'_ Annie mentally strangled the Commander of the Garrison while trying to fight off the wall cannons. They are not lethal, but really annoying to dodge in order to avoid regenerating; she doesn't have armors like Reiner to shake it off, so she has to make due with the walls of meat she called upon.

This morning, the ever punctual Annie left the walls early ahead of the Scouts to avoid commotions brought by the excited populace and hid quite a distance away from the path where Reiner and Bertolt told her the Scouts will be going through. When they did not show up after hours of waiting, she left that spot and went back to check if anything is amiss.

Annie had been surprised to see nothing; no horse tracks, no human sounds, and more importantly no smoke rounds even as she neared the wall, so she picked a spot far away from the gate—thus fewer soldiers—to get back up the walls and out of her titan when a soldier discovered her location. His screams alerted the others, and all of them rapidly fired at her. In a panic, she'd screamed to attract the Titans—though she didn't order them to cannibalize her since it's not safe for her to sneak away using her gear—to distracts the soldiers long enough before she can escape. However, it had been harder than she thought.

This had been the first time _anyone_ ever saw a female titan, and naturally, these people wanted to capture her for further research purposes. They were especially more determined to do so ever since Eren sealed the gate at Trost, thus marking the first victory in their century-long war. Now, these foolish devils felt compelled to further push humanity's attacks on the titans with the effort to capture her.

'_These island devils,'_ Annie growled as her left arms got blasted off when the soldiers brought out even more cannons, '_What the hell are Reiner and Bertolt doing?! Where are the Scouts?'_

Her leg almost healed all the way, so she just need to buy a little more time to run away; then, she can rest and recover somewhere out there—maybe at the Forest of Giant Trees; she'd brought rations in her pockets just in case she needs to be out for longer than expected—and wait for Eren to show up. With him captured, she can finally go home.

'_I will be able to finish my duty as a warrior of Marley,'_ Annie solemnly vowed; by now her leg had healed enough to run a distance. She quickly ducks from the incoming cannonballs and turned the other way, the healed hand moved back to cover her nape, leaving the dominant hand to swat away the annoying soldiers.

'_Reiner, Bertolt, I'll leave the rest to you guys.'_

* * *

**HEYYYYYYYY IT'S BEEN A YEAR HOW'S EVERYONE DOING?! XD**

**This chapter was tough to write about since I've no idea how people's gonna react if they were told 'oh see you thought humanity's dead but surprise surprise! They aren't. Btw they all hate you and want you dead. And did I tell u your hated enemies were human once?'. Some parts might sound unconvincing to you, but it makes sense to me, so yeah.**

**Truth to be told, I put off this fic for a while once school started and eventually forgot about it since I only tried to keep up with the monthly manga and officially entered into the BSD fandom, but last month I got around to rereading this and all the comments have been incredibly supportive on me getting back into writing this. 's writing format had changed a lot, too (I'm usually on AO3 these days) so this may or may not looks weird to you—I'll fix it later. Dunno if anyone's still gonna come back to this or not (and if not I'M SO SORRY FOR TAKING SO LONG AND MAKE U LOSE INTEREST IN DIS FIC—) just hoping you are still part of the SnK fandom ^-^**

**How was the chapter? Please leave a review—it'll make my day as much as waking up in the morning with the news of AoT season 4 trailer slapped in my face XD**


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